By Ralph Schwartz
‘Tis the season for giving, and some of Bellingham’s leading lights in business and politics get into the spirit the third Saturday of every December, helping the Rotary Club of Bellingham ring the bell for the Salvation Army at local stores.
Club member Jim Voss called and asked me to pass the word that Mayor Kelli Linville will be standing by the red kettle at the Lakeway Fred Meyer, approximately noon to 1 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 15. She’s scheduled to be there with local attorney Dominique Zervas.
Other business leaders can be found at all four locations sponsored by the club, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday: Lakeway Fred Meyer, Kmart, and two Haggen stores — Meridian and Barkley.
“The presence of some rather large business people in these spots have always given us overflowing pots,” Voss said.
It is disappointing that Mayor Linville is choosing to support an organization with such an abominable record on LGBT rights.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/12/the-salvation-army-ringing-anti-gay-bells-this-holiday-season/
There are lots of good organizations to support in this community, I would hope that the Mayor would spend her time supporting a different group.
Why not a more locally-owned company?
Good on you Dominique and Mayor Linville! If I’m near, I’ll stop by and say hello.
Why is everything LGBT people post negative? They always are telling us who to support and not to support. The only positive comments I see them make are about the pride parade.
Such a negative group of people. Try to focus on the good not the bad in this holiday season. We don’t need anymore scrooges.
I don’t find LGBT people’s posts negative. Look at the flood of positive stories associated with marriage equality. However, knowing that the Salvation Army repeated kicks people out in the cold and aggressively fires their employees at the slightest hint that they might be gay, gives me pause when supporting an organization.
It’s difficult to imagine Bellingham’s Mayor supporting a group that repeatedly kicks people out in the cold at the slightest hint they might be gay. Is she really that heartless or are you stretching the truth about the Salvation Army like a rubber band? Where are the stories of the Salvation Army repeatedly kicking people out in the cold?
Here’s the story about the Salvation Army kicking people out in the cold because they are gay: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/us/beliefs-salvation-army-hears-dissent-over-gay-views.html?_r=2&hp
Here’s one of their media guys saying gays need to be put to death: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/06/salvation-army-official-gays-deserve-death/53885/
and here is a roundup of how they lobbied the federal government to exempt them from any discrimination laws when it comes to firing employees over their sexual orientation: http://americablog.com/2012/11/salvation-army-anti-gay.html
Please, Wally, spend a moment googling before assuming I don’t know what I’m talking about. There are some good people working for the Salvation Army but the organization seems committed to a pretty bigoted stance, and for that reason, I support other charities in town.
I never assumed that you didn’t know what you were talking, but I did suspect that you might be stretching the truth quite a bit (like a rubber band) in order to malign the Salvation Army whose Christian religious beliefs are different from yours. Citing the one instance from 20 years ago hardly qualifies as “repeatedly” and asking a gay couple to suspend their lifestyle if they wish to stay in a Salvation Army facility is hardly qualifies as “kicking people out in the cold.”
You are free to donate as you see fit, but lying damages your reputation more than the Salvation Army’s.
Merry Christmas or Merry Yule or…
Obviously Wally has not been informed of the new anti-aspersion rules on this blog.
That said, Riley, what are your thoughts about our good mayor’s anti-gay stances?
OK, and aside from the Salvation Army’s history of homophobia, one hour of bell ringing at Freddie’s might make for good publicity but it doesn’t make one a saint.
I don’t believe Kelli Linville is anti-gay. She voted many times in support of LGBT rights as a legislator and I know that her values are not bigoted. I just believe that she chose poorly in this one circumstance and I wish she had chosen to support a different group. Not enough people are aware of the Salvation Army’s history extremely conservative views and if this conversation helped illuminate a few more people, I can count it as a step forward.
Of course she’s not anti-gay, Riley, that was an unfair comment on my part; one too many glasses of wine…sorry.
Riley, thank you for your comments. This is an important issue and I appreciate knowing the facts you present.
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