Buttigieg’s Volunteer Work with Salvation Army Brings Condemnation from LGBTQ Group | Eastern NC Now

Publisher's note: This post appears here courtesy of the LifeZette, and written by David Kamioner.

    In this Christmas season, a time when the Salvation Army is ubiquitous in many communities, it would stand to reason that volunteer work with that group would bring a person a little praise or at least appreciation, right?

    Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), for one, has touted his association with the group.

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) works with the organization.

    Former President Barack Obama even invited the Salvation Army into the Oval Office during his White House years.

    But that is not a sufficient endorsement list for the people at Out, a publication produced for members of the LGBTQ community.

    Channeling the interests of the oppressed Grinch population, "Out" and its readers are criticizing 2020 Democrat presidential aspirant Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, for his volunteer work with the Salvation Army two years ago at Christmas.

    As a self-defined Christian organization promoting the biblical concept of salvation, the Salvation Army takes a traditional view on many social issues but also emphasizes its official policy is to help "anyone" at all in need.

    David Jolley, the Salvation Army's communications director, told Out last month, "If anyone needs help, they can find it through our doors. Unfortunately, as a large organization, there have been isolated incidents that do not represent our values and service to all people who are in need."

    However, "anyone" and "all people" apparently are not of the proper inclusion level for LGBTQ critics of the organization.

    The apology in Jolley's statement does not fly, either.

    Identity politics ave become so all-encompassing on the Left and within the Democratic Party today that a group like the Salvation Army that provides food, shelter, and other vital assistance to countless Americans every day is now deemed radioactive because it does not kowtow to a radical social agenda.

    The simple act of helping those who are less fortunate - a traditional component of the Christmas season for millions of Americans - is turned into a grim slog through the fever swamps and minefields of hard-Left social ideology.

    Like any other publication championing a cause, Out has every right in this country to address issues that are of importance to its readers and to the community it serves.

    But when that right is turned into a license to hunt out selfless groups like the Salvation Army who exist to help their fellow men and women, then the publication should look to its mission and ask itself: Has our stated goal of inclusion become one of the exclusion of people who don't think exactly they way we do?