Last year, Queerty exposed two internal Salvation Army USA documents that lays out exactly how the religious org planned to battle the negative publicity from my campaign to get them to apologize for their anti-LGBTQ past.

After reading the memos describing their plan for a “strategy of containment” that includes whitewashing their past, confusing potential donors, and refusing to take responsibility for their horrendous history of discrimination, it seems appropriate to release exactly what they don’t want revealed: the public apology that the church leadership refuses to issue.

In two separate documents, the Salvation Army clearly is more interested in using PR spin to deflect attention and make LGBTQ people doubt whether or not the group’s history is worthy of an apology. In a 24-page memo titled “2014 Nondiscrimination Communications & Protocols,” the org’s public relations department spells out exactly how local and regional branches of the not-for-profit should respond to critics.

“In April 2013, The Salvation Army’s National Advisory Board adopted an aggressive issues management plan, with specific emphasis on addressing allegations of discrimination on on [sic] ongoing basis,” the document reads under a section marked “Preparations.” It notes that “The Salvation Army NHQ communications team and Richards Partners have held issue briefings and media training workshops in 2013 and 2014 for more than 150 of the highest ranking officers and respective public relations officials.”

Sadly, the organization has been in constant communication with me in an attempt to duplicitously silence my campaign demanding an apology. In 2013, the group’s public relations team expressed interest in issuing the public apology to LGBTQ people that I requested, and asked me to write it for them. I did, and the team said they’d pass it on to national and regional leadership for approval.

As the months passed, the org stayed in touch with me and gave excuse after excuse as to why they hadn’t issued the apology yet. They didn’t want to put it out during the run-up to Christmas out of fear of offending the religious right. They didn’t want to put it out immediately after Christmas because it would seem patronizing to LGBTQ people. And they didn’t want to put it out during the summer months because they were suddenly having problems with the approval process. New leadership was in place, they said, and now they had to start all over again.

They knew they had a problem. They knew they needed to fix it. And they wanted to take responsibility and issue an apology. These new leaked documents expose just how untrue the breadcrumbs they tossed my way were.

Last year, the group’s social media team worked overtime to reach out to Facebook and Twitter users who shared my post or said anything negative about the church. One canned message used repeatedly is expressly given in the document as a “suggested Facebook post” for church members.

Instead of taking responsibility for their history of rampant discrimination, they encouraged their followers and staff to lie and deny.

The canned text reads:

“These accusations simply aren’t true. Since its founding nearly 150 years ago, The Salvation Army has lived out its mission: To meet human need in His name, without discrimination. People who come to the Army for assistance will be served according to their need and our capacity to help – regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.”

Another suggested posting goes even further in an attempt to deflect responsibility – and directly contradicts the last one. Instead of saying the claims “aren’t true,” in this version they “acknowledge” that discrimination happens “occasionally.”

It says:

“We acknowledge that because of our size and scope, occasionally, one of our millions of employees or volunteers might say or do something that does not reflect our true values. We address these incidents as soon as they arise. The Salvation Army believes that all people are equal regardless of sexual orientation or any other factor, including race, gender, and ethnicity.”

Just as the org is lying about the well-documented “accusations” of abuse, they also include links to articles published online that contain misinformation and obvious factual errors. The PR team also says that fact-checked reporting from the New York Times, New York Post, and other mainstream media outlets is “inaccurate.”

A quick check of court records and widespread national news belies their spin.

Now, with the group lying and trying to cover their tracks, it appears the Salvation Army USA will never issue the apology they asked my help in crafting. After the documents were leaked, I wrote to Communications Director Jennifer Byrd – with whom I’ve worked closely on the proposed apology – to ask if they were simply yanking me around in an attempt to keep me from beating the drum that they have a horrible history of discriminating against LGBTQ people.

There was no response.

It’s incredibly disappointing to see from the internal Salvation Army documents posted by Queerty that the org opted for a “policy of containment” instead of taking a proactive approach of working with the LGBTQ community to heal old wounds. Instead of “doing the most good,” the SA-USA opted to spin the truth and gloss over their extremely anti-LGBTQ past. I continue to hope that they’ll actually “do the most good” some day, but that obviously isn’t their priority right now.

Since the Salvation Army won’t publicly release the apology they asked me to prepare, I will. You can also read the 24-page memo yourself here [pdf] and be sure to head over to Queerty to read the extra memo they’ve printed on their site.

The next time the Salvation Army tries to tell you they “do the most good” and attempts to sell you their new pro-LGBTQ image in exchange for your red kettle donation, ask them to publicly apologize to LGBTQ people. Forgiveness begins with an apology.

Read the full apology below.

The Apology the Salvation Army Won’t Release