The temperature is dropping, which means when you head to the grocery store for your Thanksgiving turkey, you’ll likely pass by a couple of bell ringers for the Salvation Army.
Every year, many of the charitable organization’s 3.3 million volunteers collect change to fund the group’s philanthropic efforts to help the poor and homeless. If you have a handful of change handy, you might drop it in one of the signature red buckets. But not if you’re Ellie Goulding.
The singer has spent time volunteering for the Salvation Army, and she was poised to kick off its yearly Red Kettle Campaign by performing at a Dallas Cowboys halftime show later this month. Now facing backlash, she might have changed her mind.
What, you ask, could be so controversial about kick-starting the Salvation Army’s annual campaign to raise funds for the homeless, which raked in more than $140 million in charitable donations last year?
When Goulding posted about the partnership on her Instagram page, one fan commented that the Salvation Army is “extremely homo/transphobic.”
Goulding was very quick to back down.
“Upon researching this, I have reached out to The Salvation Army and said that I would have no choice but to pull out unless they very quickly make a solid, committed pledge or donation to the LGBTQ community,” Goulding replied. “I am a committed philanthropist as you probably know, and my heart has always been in helping the homeless, but supporting an anti-LGBTQ charity is clearly not something I would ever intentionally do. Thank you for drawing my attention to this.”
Over the years, various blogs and anonymous internet meme creators have charged the charity, which is a Christian organization, with discriminating against LGBT and transgender people. Some of the complaints included serious grievances, such as denying a transgender woman shelter. (This was, you won’t be surprised to learn, based on a rumor and not true.)
Likely, the Salvation Army has found itself in the crosshairs of an issue plaguing homeless shelters across the country — how to care for transgender people in need while making everyone in their custody comfortable. Other complaints include concerns that are typical of Protestant organizations as a whole: ministers and employees must not practice homosexuality.
Last year, a gay rights organization in Illinois advised locals to take advantage of the Salvation Army’s services. “During the intake process people who are homeless are asked in a sensitive way how they identify and are admitted to the area of the Safe Harbor facility that aligns with their authentic gender identity,” the Prairie Pride Coalition said in a statement.
Satisfied by the practices of the local Salvation Army branch, the group endorsed it since the funds collected through the red kettles stays local.
“Given this information and the sincere, earnest efforts by the staff and leadership at our local Salvation Army, we feel comfortable recommending that members of our community support our local Salvation Army and we urge members of our community who are homeless or in crisis to seek assistance from Safe Harbor and Salvation Army’s other services,” the group said.
On the Salvation Army’s website, the organization stresses that the “Salvation Army USA serves more than 23 million Americans every year. In every ZIP code of America, services are offered without discrimination.”
It provides shelter, job training, and help with substance abuse and food insecurity. And when “a transgender person seeks help from us,” the Salvation Army says, “we serve them in the same manner as any other person seeking assistance.”
The leaders of the Salvation Army may hold private religious beliefs, but by all accounts, that doesn’t stop them from serving any people in need. Though Goulding may worry that associating with the international charitable organization could be bad for her brand, the outrage seems based on her own misunderstanding and willingness to believe random people on the internet.
If Goulding still performs to raise funds for the Salvation Army, she will simply be helping millions of people find food and shelter this holiday season. And if she doesn’t, she won’t.
