At the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network's regular monthly meeting tomorrow -- 7 pm, Wed, Dec. 5, Ann Sather's Restaurant, 929 W. Belmont, 2nd floor -- we'll be working on building the next action against the Salvation Army, protesting its decision to endorse job discrimination against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgendered (LGBT) people. The protest is scheduled for 2 p.m., Sunday, December 16 in front of the Salvation Army's display at the Hancock Building, 875 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago.

The Issues
In July, the Washington Post revealed that the Salvation Army sent a "secret memo" to the Bush administration offering to endorse its "faith based" initiative to funnel public funds to religious charities. In exchange, the Army asked Bush to get Congress to pass a national law gutting local ordinances banning anti-LGBT employment discrimination.

In late October, the Western Region of the Army, bowing to pressure from activists and the City of San Francisco, decided to extend domestic partners benefits for its LGBT and other non-married employees. San Francisco insisted on equality for all employees in order for any business or organization to receive public funds (a reform we still don't enjoy here in Chicago!). Late last month the National leadership of the Army, led by an official in Chicago, axed the equal benefits for LGBT people the Western Region had just inaugurated, and boasted that in so doing, "no biblical principals had been surrendered."

Organizing Momentum Builds
Since CABN's first Chicago protest against the Salvation Army during our annual March Against Anti-Gay Hate on Oct. 6th, activists around the country have been organizing against the Salvation Army's discrimination. Many PFLAG chapters around the country have started their own programs of dropping "$3 bills" with anti-discrimination messages into Salvation Army kettles and the Metropolitan Community Churches (Great Lakes District) has sent out messages opposing Salvation Army bias to thousands of their members and supporters.

Windy City Times and the Chicago Free Press both gave front page coverage of our joint MCC/Glenview PFLAG/CABN protest on Nov. 23rd, and LGBT papers in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Nevada, Oklahoma and San Diego published photos of it. Several more organizations have signed on to help build the December 16th protest, including: A-Zone, Anti-Racist Action/Chicago, Equality Illinois, Pathfinders Prevention Education Fund, Pride at Work/Chicago and Queer to the Left.

Besides organizing the Dec. 16th protest, we'll also discuss making plans for the new year, including Freedom to Marry Day in the second week of February.

…And We'll Have a Little Fun
It being the holiday season, and tomorrow's meeting probably being much shorter than most, we'll be showing TV news coverage of various CABN protests, and some cable TV programs on some of the coalition work against police brutality we've been involved in. We'll have some snacks available, but viewers are urged NOT to throw popcorn at the TV screen!

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Bell-Ringers for Bias

CABN, MCC (Great Lakes) and Glenview PFLAG are working against Salvation Army bias on another front, starting a campaign to urge Jewel and Dominick's food stores to stop giving privileged access to their properties in order to fundraise. It's bad enough that in many localities, LGBT tax payers are forced to financially support an institution which implicitly bans them from employment. We would hope that grocery stores which appreciate our business will realize that we don't appreciate anti-gay organizations setting up shop on their premises.

We have begun contacting Jewel and Dominick's management both at the corporate and individual store levels asking them to cease allowing Salvation Army bell ringers on their property. To help out in this campaign, we urge you to POLITELY but FIRMLY contact Jewel and Dominick's managements to urge them to no longer accommodate the Army. Please note that both firms are just beginning to become aware of the issue of Salvation Army bigotry; the point of contacting them is to convince them to stop being an unwitting ally of it.

Here's how to contact Jewel management:

Via e-mail: Jewel-Feedback@eds.com
Via phone: 800.539.3561

Here's how to contact Dominick's:

Via the web, go to this site to send a message: http://www.dominicks.com/contact_us_sw.asp?browser=ie&flag=0
Via phone: 877.723.3929

Also, next time you're food shopping, take a few minutes out to visit the service desk. Ask the person there to summon the manager on duty. Say to the manager that you understand that they do not make the decision on which charities the corporation supports, but that you nonetheless know that upper level management sometimes listens to comments and complaints communicated to them through their store managers. The store managers are not "on the other side," but they need to hear from their customers that giving privileged access to Salvation Army is something they should oppose as well.