Reply #16: I used to volunteer with a Salvation Army program for street youth, [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

and I saw no anti-gay bigotry there. Far from it--about a third of the kids were not runaways, but "throwaways," kids who had been thrown out or abandoned by their parents, mostly for being gay.

Part of what the SA officers and staff did was mediate between the kids and their clueless parents, trying to get the parents to take their kids back and trying to convince the parents that their child would always be gay, no matter what rewards or punishments they offered.

No matter what their official doctrine is, the SA people I saw in actual contact with gay and lesbian kids were warm and friendly. In four years of volunteering there every Tuesday, I never saw any evidence that gay and straight kids were treated differently.

The drop-in center had rules about "leaving the street behind." In practice, this meant no weapons, no sex talk or sexual behavior, no drug talk or drug taking. Anybody who broke the rule was asked to leave, but the rules applied equally to gay or straight sex.

They held an informal worship service on Sunday mornings, but no one was required to attend to get food or clothing or medical care or tutoring for the GED.

I DO continue to contribute to the Salvation Army, because I saw them help street youth turn their lives around, and I know that for over a hundred years they have been devoted to working with the type of people that most of us high and mighty middle class types cross the street to avoid.