The Salvation Army, one of the largest charitable organizations in America, has long been the target of suspicion within the LGBT community over reports of its bigotry against gays. Last week, the LGBT news organization Queerty reported that it had obtained internal Salvation Army documents in which the charity’s senior leaders expose their internal policies toward LGBT individuals.

If Queerty was expecting scandalous material, they were disappointed for the memos did little more than reiterate what is already known about the organization’s stance against LGBT marriages.

Following principles established by the Methodist Church, which started the charity, gay marriage is deemed unacceptable. Interestingly enough, the charity’s memos state that being gay is “not a sin,” and that sexual orientation is not a factor with regard to employment within the organization.

Paul Seiler, Commissioner of the Central Territory, wrote a memo quoted by Queerty in which Seiler says that people who are married are expected to be treated the same, whether they are gay or straight.

Additionally, Seiler notes that the organization believes that marriage is solely between one man and one woman. While Salvation Arms staff are not permited to perform a same-sex marriage, outside organizations may rent Salvation Army rooms where gay marriages can be performed by outside officials as well as same-sex wedding receptions after the ceremony.

“Leadership roles in denominational activities such as teaching or holding local officer roles require certain adherence to consistently held spiritual beliefs,” the memo states. “This would apply to any conduct inconsistent with Salvation Army beliefs and would include same-sex sexual relationships.”

Out of uniform, Salvation Army members can participate in same-sex marriages provided that they occur outside of Salvation Army facilities.

Any non-married people, whether gay or straight, are expected to be celibate, according to the organization’s memos. According to Queerty, that means that gay people who are not allowed to marry in certain jurisdictions would be forced to remain celibate.

While these clearly indicate that the Methodist organization has not made a 180-degree turn in its fundamental beliefs on homosexuality and gay marriage, it is not inconsistent with the Salvation Army’s public stance, as Queerty claims.

The Salvation Army began a deliberate outreach program where LGBT issues are concerned after a string of embarrassing incidents, including an Australian official’s 2012 statement that death is a consequence of being gay. That statement by Major Andrew Craibe, media relations director for Salvation Army Australia Southern Territory, was later retracted and an apology was issued by the Salvation Army.

The embarrassment was followed by a Vermont employee’s claim that she was fired for being a bisexual. In the incident, Dani Morantez, 26, who is both a mother and a wife, worked with the Burlington Salvation Army in Vermont. She was terminated after signing an employee handbook that had strong language for handling any LGBT individuals. In her termination papers, the Salvation Army says Morantez was fired because her personal beliefs and position did not align with theirs and she was no longer the best match for the job.

After that incident went viral, the Salvation Army responded by creating an outreach program online aimed at LGBT individuals with a series of video testimonials.

In that outreach, the Salvation Army has clearly emphasized non-discrimination in both providing service and in hiring. The Salvation Army isn’t going out of its way to highlight its opposition to same-sex marriage, but it has never said that it has abandoned its bedrock religious beliefs about marriage.

The organization’s communications director, Jennifer Byrd, said in a statement to Queerty that the letters only discuss the organization’s theological foundations and clarify its requirement of celibacy for non-married officers, whether they are gay or straight. That explanation is unlikely to appease the Salvation Army’s critics.

Queerty writer Graham Gremore says that he is “not trying to argue with the Salvation Army’s theological views,” but he doesn’t see how those beliefs can co-exist with an anti-discrimination policy.

“It can believe what it wants to believe,” he writes. “The problem is, these beliefs, which are shared privately among SA insiders, are at direct odds with the organization’s public message, which states, in blanket terms, that it does not discriminate based on sexual orientation.”

But there are plenty of people who would like that stance to change, not only for the Salvation Army, but also the Methodist Church, which provides the basis for those beliefs, and the Catholic Church, which adheres to a similar belief system.

The reemergence of this debate, despite the Salvation Army’s full court press on the issue, is just another example of a growing problem for religious organizations as they try to balance their faith-based beliefs with the changing national mores about homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

The Salvation Army bills itself as one of the world’s largest Christian social welfare organizations, with more than 1.65 million members working in at least 123 countries.

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