How to tell Jehovah's Witnesses to fuck off.

[sistawendy]

A couple of Jehovah's Witnesses came to my door with a copy of The Watchtower about an hour ago. I said, "You know what? I'm lesbian and transgender. Please leave." They did.

What it didn't occur to me to say until after they left was, "The blood of my people is on your hands." Because it is: they drive their queer kids to suicide. When I mentioned that on Twitter, I got three JWs (or maybe JW bots) tweeting screen-capped propaganda at me. Three blocks later, it's all good.

One minor mystery is their lack of reaction to the big, lovely Pride flag on my living room wall, a present from my son, that's easily visible through my front window. (I keep the slats in the blinds open for my plants and my mental health. It's the best light there is, for free.) Did they see it? Did they care if they did?

To get back to my happy place: I have a date tonight, confirmed, for dinner and ahem with the Tickler. I'll be wearing the octopus leggings she requested.

Comments

[happilymyself]

Yep, same with Mormons. Blood of LGBT (and others) on their hands.

I do try to be nice to missionaries, because they're being coerced into doing that, and might be under almost as much strain as an LGBT JW (or more if there's domestic abuse going on). LDS young men, straight or otherwise, often also suicide, and it's surrounding the pressures they're under to go on missions. Utah has the highest national rate of suicide among men aged 17-25.

(But I'm not judging you for your reaction. Just telling you my decision, and why. :) )

[sistawendy]

I didn't know missionaries got coerced. It's obvious now that I think about it. I mean, that many people volunteering to be told to fuck off does seem pretty unlikely.

On the one hand, I now feel bad for the missionaries, as do you. On the other, it's a hopeful sign: the Kool-Aid isn't as strong as I thought, or as strong as the people running cults would like.

I saw a news article claiming that the high suicide rate in Utah had to do with the altitude. Mormonism makes way more sense, though.

[happilymyself]

Yeah. I mean, not all are coerced. But a lot of them would rather stay in school or keep their girlfriends etc. For most young Mormons, not going on a mission is social suicide. They will lose friends, family will stop respecting them, no one will date them, and if they're in Utah, they might even lose job opportunities. 18-19 year olds who don't go on missions are basically ostracized. That's on top of all the "spiritual consequences."

JWs are a little different, because most of them live nearby and are only proselytizing a day or so a week. But they're under severe pressures, too. In JW-land, if they decide you've done something wrong, they completely shun you... as in, everyone stops *talking* to you. Even your family.

This is how all kool-aids work. New converts start out with choice and a sense of "rightness" and excitement for their new ideology.. but eventually many are kept in more by the negative forces than the positive.

lol at the news article. It's funny watching them try to come up with new reasons why their population is depressed. Well, it would be funny if people weren't dying.