Idea: Hurricane Sandy

[Zolgar]

I like it. I'll look into getting info for Habitat posted to the RWH site as soon as I can this morning.

And I'm a huge advocate of blood/platelet/plasma donation, so I will post information links for that as well. I donate platelets every 2 weeks and whole blood every 8 weeks. I'd love to help mobilize heroes and rally donations of blood products. There were quite a few blood centers shut down because of the hurricane, causing a significant dip in the available blood resources for the area. I'll see if I can find the article I was reading about this. It is an important aspect of any disaster relief.

Unfortunately IU probably won't be able to donate blood during the course of RWH.
My last donation was October 21st.

[ohms]

I also like the Salvation Army and I am a non-christian native american! The Red Cross appears to be hopelessly muddled in the area but the Salvation Army helps - period.

I would urge anyone who believes in equal rights for LGBT people to seriously think twice before donating to that organisation.

[Sleepy Wonder]

I used to donate blood but after living in England for 10 years now I am back in the states they won't allow me to donate due to the Mad cow disease.

I also like the Salvation Army and I am a non-christian native american! The Red Cross appears to be hopelessly muddled in the area but the Salvation Army helps - period.

This.

As an aside to the above comment, no idea how the Salvation Army has anything to do with gay rights, since they arn't in the business of law/politics. First time I've heard of such a thing honestly.

[Victoria Victrix]

This.

As an aside to the above comment, no idea how the Salvation Army has anything to do with gay rights, since they arn't in the business of law/politics. First time I've heard of such a thing honestly.

"Salvation Army Major Andrew Craibe tells LGBT journalists Serena Ryan and Pete Dillon that non-celibate LGBT people should be put to death in an interview on the podcast "Salt and Pepper."

http://soundcloud.com/johnmbecker/salvation-army-major-lgbt

Several members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community claim that the Salvation Army preaches intolerance of homosexuality, since the group clearly states that they do not believe that the homosexual lifestyle is in accordance with Biblical scripture

http://digitaljournal.com/article/315320#ixzz2BEBxkkni

[Terwyn]

Ignoring the politics, if they are readily helping to provide assistance in the wake of *any* disaster, they should be commended for their efforts.

There are many organizations who have some aspects of their organization I can safely say I despise, with the SA being one in particular. That doesn't mean that I am incapable of recognizing the good they provide.

[Segev]

"Gay people should be put to death" is an atrocious, horrible thing to say; there are very few things worthy of death, and if you pay attention in the Bible, the connection of death sentences to homosexuality is very tightly focused - in context - around groups of sodomites who are actively raping and abusing people. (Yes, the Leviticus laws are less contextual, but since the Law of Moses was fulfilled and replaced with "love thy neighbor as thyself" as a central tennent, and "I the Lord will judge whom I will judge, but of you it is required that you forgive all men," I think it safe to say that any judgmental pronouncements of earthly punishment for choices - sinful or not - that do not harm others are non-Christian.)

MOST of the organizations that are attacked these days for being "Anti-gay" are actually being attacked for daring to think that homosexual sex is a sin. I don't know about you, but I don't think believing that lying is a sin makes me against freedom of speech, as an example. It is not my place, either, to judge liars (other than as needed to, you know, determine if I can trust what they tell me or not). Therefore, I get really tired of it being claimed that not condoning homosexuality is somehow oppressing those who suffer or enjoy and/or practice it. It's their business.

I refuse to get into "gay marriage" as a debate topic in the Save CoH forum and certainly not in the hopefully a-political relief effort thread for Hurricane Sandy. Can we please stop bad-mouthing charitable organizations for daring to have religious beliefs? I know my own Church, though decidedly in the "homosexual sex is a sin" camp, would never turn away gay people in need. So let's focus on actually loving our neighbors and not on fomenting division, please.

[dwturducken]

I think the point was that, in our efforts on other threads to reach out to LBGT media, as CoH has always had a reputation for being LGBT-friendly, to suggest donating to an organization that has is openly antagonistic toward them could be seen as disingenuous on our part, to say the least. I tend to prefer Goodwill, because it, like I, is a-religious. That said, I do support Habitat, even though it has a religious core. There are a number of personal reasons for this, and I do not see it as contradicting anything I believe, mostly because I have yet to see the "upper management" of Habitat take any kind of open political stance.

(VFW was strictly for the discounts; I'm not always blue-side... )

[Osborn]

I refuse to get into "gay marriage" as a debate topic in the Save CoH forum and certainly not in the hopefully a-political relief effort thread for Hurricane Sandy. Can we please stop bad-mouthing charitable organizations for daring to have religious beliefs? I know my own Church, though decidedly in the "homosexual sex is a sin" camp, would never turn away gay people in need. So let's focus on actually loving our neighbors and not on fomenting division, please.

Ignoring the politics, if they are readily helping to provide assistance in the wake of *any* disaster, they should be commended for their efforts.

There are many organizations who have some aspects of their organization I can safely say I despise, with the SA being one in particular. That doesn't mean that I am incapable of recognizing the good they provide.

Yeah, but you also could give to a charity that isn't terrible too. There's better charities out there.

Ones that don't spend significant amounts of their donated funds to make sure that LGBT people's lives are worse off.

I think the point was that, in our efforts on other threads to reach out to LBGT media, as CoH has always had a reputation for being LGBT-friendly, to suggest donating to an organization that has is openly antagonistic toward them could be seen as disingenuous on our part, to say the least. I tend to prefer Goodwill, because it, like I, is a-religious. That said, I do support Habitat, even though it has a religious core. There are a number of personal reasons for this, and I do not see it as contradicting anything I believe, mostly because I have yet to see the "upper management" of Habitat take any kind of open political stance.

(VFW was strictly for the discounts; I'm not always blue-side... )

Such as said here.

[Terwyn]

Yeah, but you also could give to a charity that isn't terrible too. There's better charities out there.

Ones that don't spend significant amounts of their donated funds to make sure that LGBT people's lives are worse off.

Perhaps that is true of the SA in the US. It may not be the case in other countries.

Any charity that actually seeks to worsen the lives of individuals shouldn't be supported anyway.

[Osborn]

Perhaps that is true of the SA in the US. It may not be the case in other countries.

Any charity that actually seeks to worsen the lives of individuals shouldn't be supported anyway.

I have to admit that, I can't speak for the organization's actions outside of America. Call that a failing of me or of an American in general, if you wish, but it is as it is.

[Terwyn]

I have to admit that, I can't speak for the organization's actions outside of America. Call that a failing of me or of an American in general, if you wish, but it is as it is.

I'd still have to see proof before I accept that claim. Don't worry too much about it - I've found that too many people around the world don't have sufficient awareness about other countries in the first place - even those of us who've studied to work internationally.

[Osborn]

I'd still have to see proof before I accept that claim. Don't worry too much about it - I've found that too many people around the world don't have sufficient awareness about other countries in the first place - even those of us who've studied to work internationally.

I know that I guess, but I could sort of already hear the eyes rolling in people's heads. "Oh, and American doesn't know how stuff works outside of America. Reeeeal original that!"

That said, I guess read this if you care. If not, that's fine.

The thing too they promote the Red Cross there, but about the Red Cross, is that I've been personally banned for life for my orientation despite having no STDs/STIs and having a desirable blood type (O+), but I've recently heard conflicting stories on who is to blame for that, so I don't really know what to think about the Red Cross.

[Terwyn]

I know that I guess, but I could sort of already hear the eyes rolling in people's heads. "Oh, and American doesn't know how stuff works outside of America. Reeeeal original that!"

I'm Canadian, Osborn. Half the humour of my country wouldn't work without that perception.

[Osborn]

I'm Canadian, Osborn. Half the humour of my country wouldn't work without that perception.

About a quarter of the humor of my own wouldn't work without that perception either but I still don't like being part of the problem when I can avoid it.

[Atlantea]

That said, I guess read this if you care. If not, that's fine.

Pretty specific accusations in the above article. But where are the links to the original source material? If you're going to make a claim about something the SA did, where's the links to the original news articles that reported these things?