quote Finkelstein:
"Some actually tried to marry thinking that their internal natural desires would go away, they didn't. Screwing up the woman they did marry and any off spring they may have created while they were married.." Endquote
A close gay XJW friend of mine falls into that description. Converted to the religion at a young age, he tried desperately to find the 'cure' the religion promised him. He tells me, he forced himself to look at girls and not boys, prayed like hell for the holy spirit to change him (as the Bible promises), studied hard, made the religion his life etc. By his mid twenties he felt the promised miracle had occurred and Yahweh had blessed his determination etc, etc, etc. He thought he had suppressed his attraction for the same sex, and he felt he could safely look for a "fine" ( a word the religion often uses) young sister to be his wife and to share his life in the present spiritual paradise and the real paradise to come. Sadly, he did not understand what he had really done to himself.
So, in time he did meet such a 'fine' young sister (though, a bit 'tom-boyish' - i.e.small bust-smile-but he missed the subtle message in that also). He courted her at assemblies and through the distance that often separated them as they followed Society instructions, and eventually won out and they married.
Almost immediately he found that in the personal side of marriage he was failing. His new wife had normal sexual desire, but he did not. Not to say that he couldn't do "it" as some gay men have found in marriage to a woman, (they eventually had some kids), but simply that he had to wait for his body to 'give' a natural erection to enable sex, rather than being aroused by his wife' 'nakedness. He did love this girl and did everything he could for her - and I feel confident that he was also a good and loving father, I was not in his congregation, but he had that reputation and his kids clearly thought a lot of him. He told me that the hardest thing for him in the marriage, was that in spite of his 'love' for this girl, he found it so hard to have sex, and that created a difference between them. How often, he says, he laid awake at night, with a coldness between himself and his wife, willing himself to have an erection, and it just did not work.
I believe, that in spite of his personal belief that the HS had changed him, what really happened was that he had suppressed his normal, natural, sexual attraction to males and sublimated that desire into a religious feeling. He told me that his lack of sexual interest toward his wife, created difficulties in the marriage and brought great difficulties to his wife.
To keep this story short, he is out of the truth, he's divorced, his (adult) kids are somewhat confused about it all. He gave everything he owned to his former wife and walked away with nothing. She's re-married (to an elder-what else?). He's living with a guy for more than 20 years and together they have done well. When I see them together, I think that if they were in the truth (not likely-haha) they would be seen as a great example of a couple.
Conclusion: Galations 5:16,17 is a crock of sh*t, so young men (or, girls) that are attracted to the same sex - ignore the Bible rubbish and get on with your lives.
