It would seem to me that an organization that preaches so strongly about brotherly love could be so prejudice.
I have been D/F for just about seven years, and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that this occured to me. Remember how we couldn't spend time with people from school because they were "bad association"? Or you werent supposed to spend too much time with "worldly" relatives because they might be a bad influence?
Now that I have been D/F my own parents have nothing to do with me. I went to my brother's wedding a few months ago at the Kingdom Hall (big mistake) and was just stared at like there was something seriously wrong with me. My extended family members would introduce themselves to my wife and not say a thing to me... they tried like crazy to avoid eye contact with me!!! My father asked me to wait outside until the ceremony started, and once it did, I had to sit in the very last row.
Oh but wait, this gets better. I was at a family member's home (not a Witness) the day before Easter, there were several members there from out of town (I had to drive accross the state to get there), including one aunt, who I hadn't seen in almost 12 years, who came from accross the country. My JW aunt took me aside and asked if we could talk. I thought that she was going to say "hi" and see how I was doing, but NO, she wanted to ask why I was there. She said that since I was D/F that she couldn't be there with me, and she wanted me to leave!!!! She made a huge scene in front of everyone!
Now all this rambling brings me back to my original statement: How can an organization that teaches about brotherly love be so prejudice? Do they honestly think that making an "outsider" feel so uncomfortable will encourage them to want to come back?
If anybody else has a similar story, feel free to share it with me. I just found this site a couple of days ago, and it's nice to know that I am not the only one that has to deal with this.