2nd Day at Sprint
Well, I have gotten a bit more settled in my place here at this amazing place. The most amazing thing that I've had to learn is that they do everything online, which is totally fabulous. This is the building that I am working in on the Sprint Campus, it's the 6100 building.
I just can't believe how huge this place is. I met my boss today too, and he's a really nice guy. Everybody has told me that he is the nicest person to work for. I don't want to detail alot of things here, but we got some bad news yesterday, about a current situation, and if you have kept up to date with me {not online} then you know what this is about, I haven't really talked about this much on this journal, just because it is very private and very personal domain, but needless to say that this situation just gets more grave as time goes by. I will be able to get online more often, and from work, so I'll periodically update this journal from work, if I get a spare second. I have a feeling that I am going to be a busy beaver at this job, I am working as an administrative assistant for the Director of Data Management, who oversees about sixty-seventy people, so I have to schedule his meetings, and his travel plans (in a nutshell)
Tuesday July 10, 2001 | continued
THE LIST
July 10, 2001
John Arvosis
THE SALVATION ARMY'S ANTI-GAY PARTNERS
On the heels of today's news that the Salvation Army cut a secret deal with the Bush administration to discriminate against gays, comes the news that the Salvation Army is also a "partner" in a "Christian" Web portal, Christianity.com, that not only houses such anti-gay Web sites as Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network and ex-gay Exodus International), but the portal also has a mission of helping "Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox organizations" - with no mention of what happens if you're from another Christian religion, Jewish, Muslim or other person of faith and wish to join the Salvation Army/Christianity.com partnership. John Arvosis' exclusive breaking story on this is below - then be sure to click and take the poll associated with the story.
JOHN ARVOSIS
---------------
Salvation Army's Anti-Gay Partners
About.com - US Politics
by John Aravosis
July 10, 2001
http://uspolitics.about.com/library/weekly/aa071001a.htm"
Exclusive from About.com:
The Salvation Army and anti-gay groups of the religious right have a closer relationship than was previously realized by the majority of the world's gay community, in addition to other civil rights supporters.
In addition to the front-page news in today's Washington Post that the Salvation Army cut an under-the-table secret deal with the Bush Administration to ensure the President's support for the Salvation Army's policy of discriminating against gays and lesbians, it was discovered today that the Salvation Army is a "partner" of a Christian Web portal, Christianity.com, that not only houses the Salvation Army's US Web site, but also the Web sites of lead ex-gay organization Exodus International and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network. And it appears that Christianity.com is not simply a warehouse for the Web sites, but that there is in fact some commingling between the Christianity.com partners - for example, Christianity.com's home page has a lead story about converting gay people to heterosexuals, and it is written by Bob Davies, the Executive Director of Exodus, another Christianity.com partner. [FYI - The Salvation Army's main international Web site posts the link to the US-based subsidiary, and that link takes you directly to Christianity.com. network.]
Even without the anti-gay Web portal story, the Salvation Army was already in hot water as a result of breaking the news that an internal Salvation Army document obtained by the Washington Post details how the White House has made a "firm commitment" to the Salvation Army to issue a regulation that would in effect overturn local civil rights laws protecting individuals from being fired based on their sexual orientation, and providing them domestic-partner benefits, at least as the laws apply to "religious charities" such as the Salvation Army. In turn, the Salvation Army agreed to support Bush's troubled faith-based initiative that even conservative Christians have expressed concerns about. The Post also reports that this deal is indicative of the fact that "President Bush is willing to achieve through regulation ends too controversial to survive the legislative process." The internal Salvation Army document makes no bones about it's anti-gay policy. The Post quotes a senior Salvation Army official saying that the hiring of gays and lesbians "really begins to chew away at the theological fabric of who we are." However, that justification seems at odds with Bush's charitable choice proposal implementing his faith-based initiative, as the proposal already includes language banning religious charities from discriminating against individuals based on race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability - but not sexual orientation. By telling religious charities that they can not discriminate against individuals based on those minority characteristics, the Bush Administration is already impinging on the religious freedom of organizations who do not want to hire other minorities. So, the "freedom of religion" argument as it pertains to hiring gays seems to be a bit of a red herring, as that freedom was already lost in Bush's proposal. The Bush proposal endorsed by the Salvation Army appears to single out only one minority group, and that is gays and lesbians...
The question remains to what degree these revelations will hurt the Salvation Army. It is a distinct possibility that gay and lesbian contributors, and their families and friends, will be less likely to help the Army in the future, but private companies such as Sequoia Capital (who also funded Apple, Cisco and Yahoo), Christianity.com's lead investor, could feel some heat as well as the public becomes aware of their links to the Salvation Army.
People of faith may be concerned about the Christianity.com link as well. Christianity.com in its mission statement specifically states that "Christianity.com focuses on helping Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox organizations do more online." No word on what happens when people of faith from other Christian religions, or Muslims or Jews, attempt to join the community run by the Salvation Army's partner. This is particularly ironic as one would suppose the Salvation Army is at least in part motivated in the sexual orientation debate by a premise that people of faith should not face discrimination based on their religious beliefs. Gays and lesbians are also likely to find little solace in Exodus' Christianity.com home page that includes stories such as "Is AIDS God's Judgment Against Homosexuals?" and "What Can I Do To Make a Gay Person Change?" In the end, even the Salvation Army acknowledges that their anti-gay position could hurt their public image if it even became known. The Post notes that the leaked Salvation Army report says: "The Salvation Army's role [in the anti-gay effort] will be a surprise to many in the media," and the report urges efforts to "minimize the possibility of any 'leak' to the media." A bit late for that. [Note: There is a poll associated with the story about whether you would ever give again to the Salvation Army here.
I just can't believe how huge this place is. I met my boss today too, and he's a really nice guy. Everybody has told me that he is the nicest person to work for. I don't want to detail alot of things here, but we got some bad news yesterday, about a current situation, and if you have kept up to date with me {not online} then you know what this is about, I haven't really talked about this much on this journal, just because it is very private and very personal domain, but needless to say that this situation just gets more grave as time goes by. I will be able to get online more often, and from work, so I'll periodically update this journal from work, if I get a spare second. I have a feeling that I am going to be a busy beaver at this job, I am working as an administrative assistant for the Director of Data Management, who oversees about sixty-seventy people, so I have to schedule his meetings, and his travel plans (in a nutshell)
Tuesday July 10, 2001 | continued
THE LIST
July 10, 2001
John Arvosis
THE SALVATION ARMY'S ANTI-GAY PARTNERS
On the heels of today's news that the Salvation Army cut a secret deal with the Bush administration to discriminate against gays, comes the news that the Salvation Army is also a "partner" in a "Christian" Web portal, Christianity.com, that not only houses such anti-gay Web sites as Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network and ex-gay Exodus International), but the portal also has a mission of helping "Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox organizations" - with no mention of what happens if you're from another Christian religion, Jewish, Muslim or other person of faith and wish to join the Salvation Army/Christianity.com partnership. John Arvosis' exclusive breaking story on this is below - then be sure to click and take the poll associated with the story.
JOHN ARVOSIS
---------------
Salvation Army's Anti-Gay Partners
About.com - US Politics
by John Aravosis
July 10, 2001
http://uspolitics.about.com/library/weekly/aa071001a.htm"
Exclusive from About.com:
The Salvation Army and anti-gay groups of the religious right have a closer relationship than was previously realized by the majority of the world's gay community, in addition to other civil rights supporters.
In addition to the front-page news in today's Washington Post that the Salvation Army cut an under-the-table secret deal with the Bush Administration to ensure the President's support for the Salvation Army's policy of discriminating against gays and lesbians, it was discovered today that the Salvation Army is a "partner" of a Christian Web portal, Christianity.com, that not only houses the Salvation Army's US Web site, but also the Web sites of lead ex-gay organization Exodus International and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network. And it appears that Christianity.com is not simply a warehouse for the Web sites, but that there is in fact some commingling between the Christianity.com partners - for example, Christianity.com's home page has a lead story about converting gay people to heterosexuals, and it is written by Bob Davies, the Executive Director of Exodus, another Christianity.com partner. [FYI - The Salvation Army's main international Web site posts the link to the US-based subsidiary, and that link takes you directly to Christianity.com. network.]
Even without the anti-gay Web portal story, the Salvation Army was already in hot water as a result of breaking the news that an internal Salvation Army document obtained by the Washington Post details how the White House has made a "firm commitment" to the Salvation Army to issue a regulation that would in effect overturn local civil rights laws protecting individuals from being fired based on their sexual orientation, and providing them domestic-partner benefits, at least as the laws apply to "religious charities" such as the Salvation Army. In turn, the Salvation Army agreed to support Bush's troubled faith-based initiative that even conservative Christians have expressed concerns about. The Post also reports that this deal is indicative of the fact that "President Bush is willing to achieve through regulation ends too controversial to survive the legislative process." The internal Salvation Army document makes no bones about it's anti-gay policy. The Post quotes a senior Salvation Army official saying that the hiring of gays and lesbians "really begins to chew away at the theological fabric of who we are." However, that justification seems at odds with Bush's charitable choice proposal implementing his faith-based initiative, as the proposal already includes language banning religious charities from discriminating against individuals based on race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability - but not sexual orientation. By telling religious charities that they can not discriminate against individuals based on those minority characteristics, the Bush Administration is already impinging on the religious freedom of organizations who do not want to hire other minorities. So, the "freedom of religion" argument as it pertains to hiring gays seems to be a bit of a red herring, as that freedom was already lost in Bush's proposal. The Bush proposal endorsed by the Salvation Army appears to single out only one minority group, and that is gays and lesbians...
The question remains to what degree these revelations will hurt the Salvation Army. It is a distinct possibility that gay and lesbian contributors, and their families and friends, will be less likely to help the Army in the future, but private companies such as Sequoia Capital (who also funded Apple, Cisco and Yahoo), Christianity.com's lead investor, could feel some heat as well as the public becomes aware of their links to the Salvation Army.
People of faith may be concerned about the Christianity.com link as well. Christianity.com in its mission statement specifically states that "Christianity.com focuses on helping Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox organizations do more online." No word on what happens when people of faith from other Christian religions, or Muslims or Jews, attempt to join the community run by the Salvation Army's partner. This is particularly ironic as one would suppose the Salvation Army is at least in part motivated in the sexual orientation debate by a premise that people of faith should not face discrimination based on their religious beliefs. Gays and lesbians are also likely to find little solace in Exodus' Christianity.com home page that includes stories such as "Is AIDS God's Judgment Against Homosexuals?" and "What Can I Do To Make a Gay Person Change?" In the end, even the Salvation Army acknowledges that their anti-gay position could hurt their public image if it even became known. The Post notes that the leaked Salvation Army report says: "The Salvation Army's role [in the anti-gay effort] will be a surprise to many in the media," and the report urges efforts to "minimize the possibility of any 'leak' to the media." A bit late for that. [Note: There is a poll associated with the story about whether you would ever give again to the Salvation Army here.
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