"I reconstructed my life by going back to college, often feeling like I was the oldest student in each class."

"Life on the outside isn't about gnashing your teeth in the darkness, it's about being true to yourself."

"I figured I would probably die, but at that point I didn't really care. I decided that all the questions I'd always secretly had were going to be answered."

Growing Up As A Transsexual In The Jehovah’s Witnesses Organization

"Looking back retrospectively, there was an elitist bourgeois mentality in my congregation, which I have since discovered is not unique to the congregation to which I belonged."

"I was born a third generation Jehovah's Witness, My Grandparents on both sides had found the "truth"..."

"I need to tell you two things. Number one, I’m gay, and, number two, I don’t want to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses any longer."

"As of me, I started the struggle to accept my reality, now far from all outside influence."

"Thanks to the Internet I've been able to get in touch with several gay, lesbian, and bisexual former Jehovah's Witnesses who tried the straight life and failed miserably, hurting a lot of people along the way."

"I knew I would not find any support from within the Organization, so why keep putting myself through that sort of pain?"

"While I originally decided to leave the Organization solely due to my sexual orientation, I later came to realize how many other areas it was also wrong in."

"I found out that the Watchtower and Awake offered only simplistic solutions of the type: 'Do you sin? Well, then don't!'"

"I find that suicide is very common among witnesses, because they don't give you a healthy way to deal with the real issues, but just kind of sweep them under the carpet making everything 'go away'."

"Because I knew exactly what was to follow, I had confirmed with my employer that I could stay at her place when I got kicked out, which (unsurprisingly) happened."