ALEXANDRIA, VA – The national LGBT blog, The Bilerico Project, has awakened the gay community concerning the Salvation Army’s discrimination against gays and lesbians and the community has reacted by turning their backs on the annual bell ringers.

As reported by MSNBC, Bill Browning, editor-in-chief of The Bilerico Project said that as the holiday approach, the Salvation Army bell ringers are in front of stores asking shoppers for donations. He went on to say that if a LGBT person cares about equal rights, they will skip making a donation to the Salvation Army and make a donation to a charity that doesn’t discriminate against gays and lesbians.

Andy Thayer of the Gay Liberation Network told MSNBC that the organization is urging a boycott of the Salvation Army because it uses its selective interpretation of the Bible to promote discrimination against LGBT people in employment benefits and leadership positions.

The Salvation Army, a charitable evangelical Christian organization that provides aid and services to the needy, denies that it discriminates against anyone.

Lt. Col Ralph Bukiewicz, a divisional commander of the Salvation Army said that nothing could be further from the truth and that the Salvation Army does not determine eligibility for any service within the agency on a person’s sexual orientation and that they don’t even ask for that information.

Gay-rights advocates contend the organization has a history of lobbying for anti-gay policies and legislation. Browing said that in 2004 the Salvation Army threatened to close all their soup kitchens for the homeless in New York to protest the city’s decision to require vendors and charities doing business with the city to adhere to the state’s civil rights laws forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation.