The first thing any LGBT person should do with respect to Jehovah’s Witnesses is to have nothing whatsoever to do with them! The WTS is both unprepared and unwilling to deal with the reality of same-sex dating, courtship and marriage. Its attitude toward such people is they must become celibate, abandon their partners/spouses, and fully embrace the homophobic WTS culture. There is absolutely no place for any LGBT person in the ranks of Jehovah’s Witnesses regardless of how the organization tries to sugar coat its virulently anti-LGBT stance. My partner has begged me to never associate with the Witnesses on a religious or social basis again, and I have told him that is my whole-hearted desire as well.
I have wondered what, if any, instructions the organization has given to American congregations about how to talk to same-sex couples they will meet in their door-to-door canvassing. Same-sex marriage is now legal in nine states with more considering lifting their bans and legalizing it. The majority of the American public now supports same-sex marriage and the right of same-sex couples as well as LGBT people to adopt children. Then there are countries like Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and South Africa which have legalized same-sex marriage. How are Witnesses in those lands supposed to react and respond to this sweeping social change?
Most likely, there will be no attempts to integrate LGBT people into congregations nowadays. More LGBT people are awakening to the fact that there is nothing wrong with us; that we are not perverts; that we don’t need to “pray the gay away” or in any other way deny our true nature or give in to self-hatred. We are every bit as much God’s children and fully realized human beings as anyone else. So I very much doubt the Witnesses will be making many converts among LGBT people who are now or will become quite secure in their sexual identity.
Of course, there are still many LGBT people who are active Witnesses. I knew a few when I still associated with the organization. Most were closeted, revealing their identity only to a trusted few. Some were involved in unhappy marriages. Others were “on the downlow”, that is secretly having encounters or even affairs with others of the same sex. And while some professed to be happy, all whom I knew, including Yours Truly, were frustrated and lonely. Forced into an unnatural celibacy, denied the love and security that having a spouse and family would give, and despised by many homophobic Witnesses, the lives of such people are deeply troubled and unhappy. Some stay because they believe they have no other place to go. Others eventually break free and discover what real life is all about. I am glad I was able to finally do the latter.
Quendi
