The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins never misses an opportunity to defame the LGBT community while painting conservative Christians as victims, and his latest exploit may signify a petty new low for the hate group. In his Washington Watch Daily Radio Commentary on Monday, Perkins defended the Salvation Army for being anti-gay and claimed that the LGBT community is selfish and only targets the organization because it’s Christian:

The Salvation Army does a lot for America, but don’t expect a ringing endorsement from homosexuals. Hello, I’m Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. Gay activists will be putting a little something in the red kettle this year-but it won’t be money. They’re asking people to drop in complaints instead because the Salvation Army has a biblical view of sexuality.

Despite decades of community service, activists say those kettles are pushing an anti-gay agenda. Nothing could be future from the truth says Major George Hood. You don’t have to be straight to get help from the Salvation Army, he explained. Not a single “policy, practice, or program” even asks about sexual orientation. “The very mission of the Salvation Army calls for meeting the needs of humans without discrimination.”

The truth is, homosexuals are only targeting the Salvation Army because it’s Christian. And they’d rather help their agenda than the needy. Do your part to help the Salvation Army-because far too many families are saved by their bells.

LGBT bloggers Bil Browning and John Aravosis have thoroughly cataloged the Salvation Army’s anti-gay record. Major Hood, Perkins’ ringing endorsement for LGBT-inclusion, defended the notion of discriminating against gay employees in 2001 because “it really begins to chew away at the theological fabric of who we are.” The Church has hidden its position statement on homosexuality, claiming it’s “Under Review,” but it previously believed the following:

Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex. The Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is primary or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage.

Seeking special protection to not hire gay employees and condemning gays to a life without love is hardly a good record “without discrimination.” That’s not to say the Salvation Army doesn’t accomplish good works, just like many other organizations that engage in charity but have anti-gay policies, like the Boy Scouts of America. But these are clearly groups that reinforce stigma against gay people and actively engage in discrimination, so it’s perfectly reasonable for LGBT activists to suggest supporting organizations that don’t instead. To suggest that this has anything to do with an attack on religion or an aversion to charity is a ghastly ad hominem attack against the LGBT community. It’s as absurd as suggesting that opposition to Chick-fil-A is based on hatred for fried chicken. What’s at stake is a basic level of respect for people’s lives, and it’s outlandish for Perkins to claim that groups (like his) who have none are somehow victims.

Yesterday, Current TV host Stephanie Miller allowed Salvation Army Major George Hood to claim his church organization is not anti-gay, though its record clearly demonstrates otherwise. Miller and Current TV colleague Bill Press had also launched a competition to raise money for the Salvation Army over the holiday season. In a written statement as well as on her show today, she has apologized for not thoroughly researching the organization’s anti-gay record and also ended the fundraiser, donating matching funds for what had already been collected to The Trevor Project:

Where I screwed up was in not doing more research about the Salvation Army’s long and checkered history involving LGBTQ people and our issues. I sincerely apologize for that.

When I returned from the Thanksgiving holiday, I learned a lot more — much of of it from friends like John Aravosis at America Blog and Michelangelo Signorile at Sirius OutQ — and I decided that, effective immediately, Talking Liberally and The Stephanie Miller Show would no longer be a part of the Salvation Army’s Online Red Kettle Campaign.

Please understand that I do believe the Salvation Army does much good work in the world and I also believe in redemption. I sincerely hope they will change their mission statement and policies regarding the LGBTQ community and I am very willing to continue that dialogue with them.

Through yesterday, your generosity has raised $1,150 for the Salvation Army in the Stephanie Miller Red Kettle.

I am now going to personally match that amount with a donation to the Trevor Project, whose work and mission I can endorse without any reservation. The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth.

Listen to the clip from today’s show in which Miller explains that Hood was not telling the truth Tuesday:

When Salvation Army Major George Hood told Current TV host that the Salvation Army is not anti-gay, she didn’t challenge him on it. He claimed it was all just one big internet rumor:

HOOD: Well it’s a great misunderstanding that’s spread across the country, and we’re doing everything we can to re-educate and help people understand that the very mission of the Salvation Army calls for meeting the needs of humans without discrimination…. So discrimination is not something that we would gladly carry the banner or pride over, we want to dispel the notion that we do discriminate when the fact is we’re working very hard not discriminating and it is a part of our mission.

MILLER: You know, Chris, you can help me with some of the things, you know, again, you’re right, Major, once things get out there, you know…

HOOD: Many of those things start fueling through blog sites and postings on the Internet and it’s really really tough to shut them down when they get out there.

Watch it:

Unfortunately for Miller, Hood himself is on record expressing concern about hiring gay employees, telling the Washington Post in 2001 that “it really begins to chew away at he theological fabric of who we are.” John Aravosis compiled a significant record documenting the Army’s opposition to LGBT people. In its position statement on homosexuality, the Salvation Army demands that gay people be celibate because “scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex.” (Incidentally, this position statement is currently unavailable on the Army’s website, as it is supposedly “Under review.” The screencap above is what was previously found at the site.)

If Hood’s comments were accurate or represented a change toward inclusion, that would be laudable. Unfortunately, Miller seems to have simply been caught unaware and allowed Hood’s dubious claims to go unchallenged.

Many do not realize that the bell-ringing Salvation Army is actually a Christian church organization with many conservative tenets and a military-style structure. Last week, an Australian Salvation Army official, Major Andrew Craibe, addressed questions about the organization’s anti-gay policies in a radio interview, acknowledging multiple times that the Bible calls for LGBT people to be put to death if they do not “come to know salvation” (i.e. chastity).

Hours after Truth Wins Out first reported the interview, the Salvation Army Australia issued an apology for Craibe’s “miscommunication,” explaining that the Bible refers not to “physical death” but to “spiritual death”:

The Scripture in question, viewed in its broader context, is not referring to physical death, nor is it specifically targeted at homosexual behaviour. The author is arguing that no human being is without sin, all sin leads to spiritual death (separation from God), and all people therefore need a Saviour. [...]

The Salvation Army sincerely apologises to all members of the GLBT community and to all our clients, employees, volunteers and those who are part of our faith communities for the offence caused by this miscommunication.[...]

We pledge to continue to offer services to all Australians and to treat each person with dignity, respect and non-discrimination.

The statement does not fully address the Salvation Army’s on-going anti-LGBT policies. The controversy in Australia has erupted after openly gay pop star Darren Hayes (formerly of Savage Garden) called for a boycott because of the group’s antagonistic beliefs on sexuality. LGBT blogger Bil Browning did the same this past year in the U.S., citing the organization’s anti-gay lobbying efforts and its expectation that gay people who benefit from its charity be celibate.