As much as I try to give Councilman Carl DeMaio the benefit of the doubt, he keeps poking a stick in the eye of our community. On the heels of touting his endorsement by homophobes, “Lysol” Larry Stirling and former mayor Roger Hedgecock, now comes DeMaio’s latest insult. The councilman has asked our community to contribute to the Salvation Army toy drive. That’s right the same Salvation Army that opposes equality for LGBT people.
The Salvation Army has consistently taken a stance against open homosexuality, arguing that scripture “forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex.” Their Web site asserts that “Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex” should remain celibate. Thanks for asking us to support them DeMaio, my toy is in the mail.
Johnathan Hale, DeMaio’s life partner, also encouraged the LGBT community to give to the Salvation Army. Sean Sala, one of Hale’s and DeMaio’s minions, suggested on Hale’s website that we should not be seen as “crazy gay liberals” for not supporting the Salvation Army.
Well Sala, DeMaio and Hale; if the KKK was giving a toy drive, I would not ask for African Americans to give so they would not be considered crazy, liberal n—–s, by the organization’s bigoted leaders. There are many organizations to whom LGBT San Diegans can give that help the homeless and that don’t proselytize discrimination against the LGBT community. I guess that does not matter to DeMaio, Hale and Sala.
This is clear political posturing by DeMaio, his partner and their groupies. Giving to the Salvation Army is not going to help change the organization’s position regarding LGBT equality. A better idea is to make a donation this season to one of the myriad of LGBT affirming non-profits. Carl DeMaio wants you to put a piece of coal in the stocking of the LGBT community by supporting the bigoted Salvation Army; don’t be fooled.
What about Bonnie? Or pastor Richard Mcullen of the Mission Gathering Church? They hold the same position as DeMaio, Hale & Sala on this issue. Another hit piece by LGBT Weekly. Way to keep it classy guys!
and they are wrong too.
Why did you not included them in this story then?
Maybe because it wasn’t Bonnie’s office who issued a plea to support the Salvation army or her Partner’s website that published an op-ed to the same effect.
Jeff, they aren’t running for mayor… DUH
Well done! Thank you for bringing this to the public eye. Glad someone is speaking out, what we all are thinking!
Bonnie isn’t running for Mayor citizenkurt?
Jeff, she’s barely running.. I honestly didn’t notice her name in your comments.. Ill have to do a search, online because I haven’t seen her supporting the Salvation Army like Carl has.
I wouldn’t vote for either De Maio or Bonnie for Mayor of San Diego. Actually I wouldn’t vote any of the current candidates for Mayor of San Diego. From my observations they all are lacking in sufficient skills and/or personal integrity for the job. Poor San Diego – what a motley collection of jerks from which to choose.
I suspect is is trying to prove his bona fides toward a Conservative organization for the sake of his political career and the upcoming election. How can we support a self-loathing man who for years took ZERO steps toward what makes us equal under the law?
Oh, please. This is quite the stretch. Simply more hatred and gossip from this ridiculous gay rag. Look, if you want underprivileged kids to have toys at Christmas, giving a toy to the Salvation Army Angel Tree toy drive program is a viable option. (One that actually puts $0 in the pockets of the Salvation Army, but does ensure a happy Christmas for at least one kid.) Still don’t want to do that because you hate them and discredit every single thing they are allegedly misguided about you and your victimized community? Fine, then go participate in the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots program. Either way, take a deep breath and have a Merry Christmas and don’t read so much into it.
What’s the next big breaking story, LGBT Weekly? Was Carl DeMaio actually spotted responding with “Merry Christmas” to a Salvation Army bell ringer outside of the Rancho Bernardo Target, thereby alienating the Jews, the gays, the poor people, and the unions? SCANDALOUS!
Oh, please. This is quite the stretch. Simply more hatred and gossip from this ridiculous gay rag. Look, if you want underprivileged kids to have toys at Christmas, giving a toy to the Salvation Army Angel Tree toy drive program is a viable option. (One that actually puts $0 in the pockets of the Salvation Army, but does ensure a happy Christmas for at least one kid.) Still don’t want to do that because you hate them and discredit every single thing they are doing because they are allegedly misguided about you and your victimized community? Fine, then go participate in the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots program. Either way, take a deep breath and have a Merry Christmas and don’t read so much into it.
What’s the next big breaking story, LGBT Weekly? Was Carl DeMaio actually spotted responding with “Merry Christmas” to a Salvation Army bell ringer outside of the Rancho Bernardo Target, thereby alienating the Jews, the gays, the poor people, and the unions? SCANDALOUS!
First, it is very clear at this point to the majority of the local gay community that that Carl does not deserve it’s support. Hale has far more to be concerned with, from a business standpoint, then Carl. He’s soiled his reputation by parroting the far-right positions of his partner, which is bittersweet, quite frankly, as it’s a testament to his devotion to Carl. They’re both guilty of gross misjudgment of the values of the local gay community. Sala isn’t even worth the effort to discuss, so I’ll be brief. He’s obsessed with his delusion of being some sort of notable San Diego figure, but his shtick is so transparent and pathetically weird that no one cares. Hopefully, Hale will come to his senses before he does irreparable damage to his business.
The article mentioned Sean Sala as a minion. In my limited exposure to Sean I will say that I saw him oversee the toy drive that the Service Members United did at Eden, and do I even have to mention open Active Duty marching in the pride parade? So I don’t doubt Sean’s devotion to the LGBT community or to underprivileged children. I had no idea about the Salvation Army discriminating and maybe neither did these guys. Even if they did know, at the end of the day they are donating to help people who need help. Besides donating to people who do hate LGBT sounds like something Jesus would do. …… So I just did some research on Johnathan Hale and I think he is involved in or owns PIX or SDGLN another gay news thing. So maybe this is really about two gay news organizations that don’t like each other? Who knows? Kinda seems like it though.
Anything that Sala is involved with is motivated by one thing: the pursuit of lifting himself onto an imaginary pedestal he’s envisioned in his mind. His start was promising, as the parade was significant, but then his transparent and delusional self-absorption crashed and burned him very early on, and that’s really a shame because it’s hard to bounce back from the kind of reputation that he’s established for himself. What upsets the majority of the local gay community about the DeMaio cabal (look it up) is that their obstinate collective attitude about the unpopular positions they take seems to be rooted in the desire to fight their critics (most of the gay community), rather than understand what it is that makes these positions unpopular in the first place. And “Jose”, this has nothing to do with a fight between rival publications. If Hale wants to position his rags as representing the gay community, then he better start educating himself about his readers. He’s done his business no favors this year.
Bunch of bogusness. For Christians, when it comes to homosexualtiy, Salvation Army seems to have a more enlightened attitude than most.
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/B6F3F4DF3150F5B585257434004C177D?Opendocument
I saw somewhere that Sean Sala was just the front man for the Military Contingent and that a San Diego Pride Staffer Fernando Lopez actually organized the event.
Great article! A reminder of how even our own fellow members of the gay community are willing to sell out and support anti-gay organizations for political advancement and power. Politics as usual for the right-wing.