Dude never donate to SA. They're profit driven religious wackadoos who have no idea how to run anything. The charity angle is just another religious scam.
Also, frankly, here in the Reno area it's basically impossible to find a thrift store that's not run by incredibly religious wackadoos. Best you can do is Goodwill, which is far from irreligious. Salvation Army is one of the few that isn't blasting Jesus Rock on the speakers when you're in there.
They often have no damn clue what they're selling and clearly just make up prices on the spot. I've flipped a few things for a 500%+ profit from the super-ultra-Jesus-ey thrift stores. Computer hardware in particular is something they just don't grasp the value of. If you ever need a managed switch or a spare monitor, check the thrift stores.
Got Wii Sports for $1 at a thrift store like that, whereas their glassware was usually significantly above comparable eBay listings (despite the labels sometimes claiming otherwise). Unfortunately, at least where I live, the odds of computer stuff showing up are few and far between.
You can act according to your faith and still be a nice and accepting human being. Doing charity only as a promotional device would be a negative for conscience at least.
This is false and dangerous misinformation to spread. The Salvation Army will absolutely not deny services to LGBTQ people. They even run initiatives to help rescue trans people from sex trafficking, and run a trans dorm in Nevada.
The problematic part of the SA is that they lobby against gay rights in politics. So you should vote with your wallet and not support them. But if you are homeless and need help, they WILL help you.
Theyre the only people to help during actual disasters though. Good luck getting the fucking Red Cross out short of anything but a federally declared disaster.