Internal Memo
Revealed
Excerpts of an internal Salvation Army
document published today by The Washington Post said the White House had
"committed" to change the circular in order to shield religious groups from
state and local laws prohibiting anti-gay hiring practices.
Other excerpts from the 79-page report
suggested the Christian charity believed the assurance had been given in
exchange for its promise to support Bush's legislative proposal to boost funding
for churches and other religious organizations that provide certain social
services.
"This kind of backroom deal, this quid
pro quo arrangement that would allow religious organizations to circumvent civil
rights laws enacted by elected officials in state and local municipalities is
reprehensible," said Winne Stackleburger, political director of the Human Rights
Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization.
Fleischer said earlier today the
administration had told the Salvation Army its suggested rule-change "would be
reviewed," but insisted there were "absolutely not" any deals struck or promises
made. He said administration officials have "advised" the group of its apparent
misunderstanding.
The Salvation Army, for its part,
claimed before today's late announcement that it had never been under the
impression that the Bush administration had made its final decision on the
matter.
"The Salvation Army pointed out this
issue and the White House has been looking at it," said David Fuscus, a
spokesman for the organization. "We understood all along that the White House
has not made a decision on this."
Faith-Based Initiative
Stalled
The faith-based initiative unveiled by
the president in January and now pending in the House would allow religious
groups to compete for government contracts to deliver a wide variety of
services, such as alcohol- and drug-abuse treatment, job-training, housing and
after-school programs. It calls for $24 billion in new federal grants and tax
deductions for charitable institutions over 10 years.
The change in government regulations the
Salvation Army had been seeking would bar state and local governments from
receiving federal grants if they impose restrictions on anti-gay hiring
practices by federally funded religious groups.
"What this is really about is the
Salvation Army trying to get a license to discriminate using public money," said
Matt Coles, director of the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Task Force.
The president's legislative initiative
is stalled in Congress and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who
opposes the plan, said today the controversy would make it even less likely it
would ever become law.
"It raises a lot of questions and, I
think, may actually imperil the president's efforts to get something passed," he
told reporters on Capitol Hill.
But the nation's leading gay GOP group,
the Log Cabin Republicans, said the president's critics, not the
administration's policies, were to blame for the controversy.
"One Salvation Army staffer's misguided
memo became something akin to a child's game of 'whisper down the lane' for
groups opposed to the president," LCR Public Affairs Director Kevin Ivers said
in a written statement. "[A] long list of liberal special interest groups lined
up, before checking the facts, to claim the White House was mounting a
non-existent attack on the gay community."
Civil Rights Act At Issue
But even as it announced its decision to
reject the Salvation Army request, the administration signaled its commitment to
allowing it and other faith-based groups to discriminate against gays.
Fleischer stressed that the 1964 Civil
Rights Act grants religious organizations wide latitude in hiring practices and
does not prohibit them from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.
"These protections ensure that religious
organizations have the right to hire individuals who share their religious
faith," he said in his statement this evening.
Fuscus said the Salvation Army prohibits
gays from becoming ministers with the organization, but does not have an
across-the-board ban on hiring homosexuals.
"It does not discriminate against anyone
in its hiring practices. However, when it's looking at people who are hired as
ministers, it does hire people whose values are consistent with the church's
philosophy," he said. "It's a right that every church has — to hire who it
wants."
A White House official told ABCNEWS the
senior members of the administration who ruled out the proposed rule-change had
only become aware of the Salvation Army's request today.
ABCNEWS' Terry Moran contributed to
this report.
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