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St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TennesseeChad Robertson Media/Shutterstock

MEMPHIS (Lepanto Institute) — What does celebrating, promoting, and supporting the open practice of sodomy have to do with helping kids fight childhood cancer? That’s the question donors need to be asking St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

St. Jude was founded in 1962 by the famous actor and comedian, Danny Thomas. A Maronite Catholic, Thomas had a great devotion to St. Jude Thaddeus and made a promise that if he became successful as an entertainer, he would erect a shrine to St. Jude. In the 1950s, his wife began raising funds for the establishment of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to make good on that promise.

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Unfortunately, despite its original mandate to help kids survive catastrophic illnesses, St. Jude has strayed into the promotion of gravely immoral ideologies by fighting anti-LGBT laws, sponsoring LGBT pride events, openly promoting homosexuality, and even marching – with children – in LGBT Pride parades.

On June 1, 2024, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was heavily represented at the Memphis Pride parade. Wearing “St. Jude Supports Pride” t-shirts, carrying a banner with the same moniker, and waving rainbow flags, over 100 people representing the research hospital – and their young children – showed up about 40 minutes into the parade.

On the Mid-South Pride website, three different aspects of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital were listed as “vendors” which provided their own statements of support for “Pride Fest”: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital / ALSAC, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. On the Mid-South Pride page for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the organization provided the following statement:

The St. Jude PRIDE employee resource group (ERG), launched in 2018, is a safe place for discussion, professional networking and support for members of the St. Jude, GMP, and Graduate School LGBTQ+ community and allies. We welcome employee participation and look forward to meeting you! We will have talent acquisition representatives on site with QR codes that link to our current job opportunities.

Our Mission Statement: People Respecting Individuality Diversity and Equity: To serve, educate and support the St. Jude LGBTQ+ community and our allies to  promote the St. Jude mission.

Community building among St. Jude LGBTQ+ employees
Education about LGBTQ+ issues and healthcare
Service to the St. Jude and Memphis LGBTQ+ community
Support for LGBTQ+ employee well-being

The page for ALSAC just provides a brief description of the organization, but the page for the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – after explaining what it is – closes with this statement:

We are thrilled to be part of this year’s Memphis Pride Fest, celebrating diversity, inclusion, and the power of community in driving scientific progress and healing.

On a page of the Mid-South Pride’s website dedicated to St. Jude’s “Pride Employee Resource Group,” provides a series of photos showing St. Jude’s promoting LGBT “pride” before stating the following:

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St. Jude PRIDE is People Respecting Individuality Diversity and Equality: To serve, educate and support the St. Jude LGBTQ+ community and our allies to  promote the St. Jude mission.

At St. Jude, no patient is discriminated against on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender identity or expression. St. Jude treats individuals consistent with their identity and strives to provide an affirming environment in which all patients can thrive.

At St. Jude, no patient is discriminated against on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender identity or expression. St. Jude treats individuals consistent with their identity and strives to provide an affirming environment in which all patients can thrive.

The St. Jude PRIDE Employee Resource Group is open to the LGBTQ+ community and allies who are St. Jude, GMP and Graduate School employees. The ERG’s mission is to serve, educate and support the St. Jude LGBTQ+ community and allies in order to promote the St. Jude mission. As top priorities, St. Jude PRIDE members focus on:

  • Community building among St. Jude LGBTQ+ employees & allies
  • Education about LGBTQ+ issues and healthcare
  • Service to the St. Jude and Memphis LGBTQ+ communities
  • Support for LGBTQ+ employee & ally well-being

The page also features a video slideshow of St. Jude’s open support for and participation in LGBT Pride in 2019.

On social media, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has been very open about its support for homosexuality and transgenderism. On June 13, 2023, one of St. Jude’s Facebook pages posted a blurb on the manager of Together by St. Jude, a free online resource of information and education about childhood and adolescent cancer. Along with the blurb, St. Jude’s included a photo of the manager wearing a “St. Jude Supports Pride” t-shirt while participating in the 2023 LGBT Pride march.

On June 30, 2021, St. Jude’s expressed its “commitment” to “inclusivity, diversity, equality and support” as Pride Month comes to a close. Along with this statement of commitment, St. Jude’s included a photo collage of its people celebrating sodomy in various venues.

Just a few weeks before this, on June 5, 2021, St. Jude’s made its commitment to intrinsic evil quite clear by writing:

During #PrideMonth and all year, we’re dedicated to recognizing the long road toward equality for LGBTQ+ individuals. Across St. Jude, we celebrate love in all its forms and honor the commitment of advocates and allies who strive to create a more inclusive workplace and world.

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St. Jude’s organizational giftshop even sells LGBT pride merchandise:

As shocking and horrible as all of this is, it pales in comparison to St. Jude’s involvement in fighting “anti-LGBT laws.” Once again, we are forced to ask – what does any of this have to do with fighting life-threatening illnesses in children, and why is donor money being used to spread this kind of grave moral evil, even to the point of scandalizing children?

In December of 2016, News Channel 5 in Nashville reported that a coalition of Tennessee businesses had banded together to “fight anti-LGBT laws.” Stating that members of the coalition “believe our workplaces and communities must be diverse and welcoming for all people, regardless of … sexual orientation or gender identity,” the stated goal of the coalition is “to stand together in demanding fair and equal treatment for all.”

But the promotion of LGBT ideologies isn’t the only moral problem with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – it is also promoting the use of contraception and condoms. In 2010, Planned Parenthood of the Greater Memphis Region (PPGMR) published an Annual Report indicating PPGMR had “space on-site” at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to “augment education and training offerings.” The Annual Report said:

Likewise, PPGMR’s community educators provided comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education to more than 11,000 men, women, and teens in schools, churches, and community groups. While this outreach in the community will not cease, we now have space on-site to augment our education and training offerings, as well as our collaborative efforts with organizations like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Job Corps, Memphis City Schools, and the YWCA.

In December of 2012, Planned Parenthood was involved in a “Faith and AIDS” conference that was co-sponsored by St. Jude, and in January of 2014, PPGMR again partnered with St. Jude for a “World AIDS Day” event to:

… offer free and confidential HIV testing in the school-based clinics at Northside High School, Westwood High School, East High School, and Sheffield Career and Technology Center during the weeks leading up to World AIDS Day.

The promotion of contraception and condoms is prevalent throughout the St. Jude website. For instance, St. Jude’s “Together, Teens, & 20s” portion of the website has a page regarding the question of pregnancy. Under “Family Planning Options,” St. Jude recommends the grossly immoral practices of sperm and egg donation, embryo donation, and even surrogacy.

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On the same page, it also encourages the use of contraception and condoms to avoid pregnancy.

Another page on the St. Jude website dedicated to Teens and 20s is titled, “Sexual Health During Cancer Treatment.” On this page, St. Jude’s is explicit in the promotion of condoms and birth control during cancer treatments, as with this portion:

On the same page, under the heading, “Pregnancy during cancer treatment,” St. Jude’s says:

It is strongly recommended to wait until after treatment to have a baby and always use protection during sex.

And a little further on, under the heading, “Resuming sexual activity after treatment,” it says:

Barrier protection, with condoms, should always be used.

On this page regarding HIV treatments, St. Jude encourages condom use among teens to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, saying:

Sexually active teens can be infected by having unprotected sex with an infected partner. About 1 in 3 new HIV infections in Shelby County is in youth 13–24 years old. Using barrier protection, such as a condom, prevents HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis, hepatitis B, and gonorrhea.

And quite a few pages regarding various forms of medication and treatments have strong recommendations for the use of additional forms of birth control and condoms while undergoing the treatments or on the medication. Here are a few examples:

    • St. Jude’s says: “Be sure you use some other kind of birth control, like a condom, for 7 days after you get this medicine.”
    • St. Jude’s says: “Birth control pills and other hormone-based birth control might not work as well to prevent pregnancy. Use an extra form of birth control, like a condom, when taking this medicine. Continue for 28 days after the medicine is stopped.”
    • St. Jude’s says: “Sexually active female patients should take steps to prevent pregnancy during treatment and for 6 weeks after completion of therapy. This medicine may make birth control pills and other hormone-based birth control methods less effective. Sexually active patients should use another form of birth control, like condoms, to prevent pregnancy while taking this medicine.”
    • “Male patients who are sexually active should use a condom during treatment and for 3 months after the final dose.”
    • St. Jude’s says: “Birth control pills and other hormone-based birth control might not work as well to prevent pregnancy. Use an extra form of birth control, like a condom, when taking this medicine. Continue for at least one (1) month after you stop treatment.”
    • St. Jude’s says: “Women must not become pregnant while they are taking efavirenz. Women who are old enough to become pregnant should talk to their doctor, nurse, or pharmacist about methods of birth control that work well. If you use pills for birth control, you should use a second method of birth control (such as a condom) while taking efavirenz.”

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All of this is dreadfully disappointing, considering the good St. Jude Children’s Hospital has done, but one more note should be mentioned. The sainted founder of St. Jude Children’s Hospital – while a practicing Catholic – was also a 33rd degree Freemason and a Shriner. The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and the Yukon has a profile on Danny Thomas, which says in part:

Brother Thomas’ initiation on March 15, 1984 led to a brief withdrawal of recognition by the Grand Lodge of California of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey from August 29, 1984 to October 19, 1984, as Thomas was a resident of California at the time. This incident did not prevent him from going on to be an active Shriner and to publicly speak glowingly about Freemasonry.

The same profile on this Masonic website provides a link to a speech delivered by Danny Thomas titled, “It’s Great to Be a Freemason,” wherein Thomas is identified as having achieved the 33rd degree of Freemasonry. In his speech, Thomas expressed his full intention to adopt the tenets of Freemasonry and to spread the good face of Freemasonry wherever he went. He said:

I am grateful now for the larger opportunity which is mine to adopt the tenets of Freemasonry as my own and hopefully be able to have a small part in spreading Masonry’s message of love and caring to a larger audience, for wherever I go, I will be proud to tell others of my work and concern in behalf of all that you are doing, unselfishly, for others.…

Our purpose is noble and humanitarian. Our labors will be crowned with success, for as Freemasons we will bring to our mission the best we have, regardless of what it demands from us in the way of sacrifice and service. We will make sure that in the tomorrows, life will be better for those who suffer today.

I was a Freemason in my heart long before I was accepted as a member in this great Fraternity. I was an outsider but now I am one of you, and the remaining years of my life will be spent in seeking in some small way to say to all: “Thank you for making me a Freemason.”

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While the information regarding Thomas’ involvement in Freemasonry doesn’t necessarily impact the mission or actions of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital per se, after examining the full-throated promotion of LGBT ideologies and the promotion of contraception and condoms, it is impossible to consider that Freemasonry hasn’t had an impact on the direction and philosophy of St. Jude’s itself.

For all the stated reasons, we are forced to give St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital a “Not Safe” designation.

Reprinted with permission from the Lepanto Institute.

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