Thank you for listening. Thank you for caring about me. It means more to me than you could possibly know.

In January 2020, a documentary was released called “The Witnesses.”
TRIGGER WARNING: basically all the worst things people can do

“The Witnesses” can be found on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/AWindowForJ...
or Oxygen: https://www.oxygen.com/thewitnesses/...
and also on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/tv/show...

and other places on the internet if you dig deep enough. I encourage you to watch it and share it. I believe the survivors. I know survivors. I am a survivor.

(UPDATE 2/29:
If you need resources or are looking for answers about the JWs:
https://www.jwfacts.com/ & https://jw.support/)



I can’t describe what it feels like to be a child rejected by their parent. It strips you of your humanity. It makes you a shell. Nothing more than an object someone can optin to cherish and love when convenient for them and their beliefs. It reduces you to a choice.

I am not a choice. I am a person deserving of love and respect.

Back in August, my Dad and stepmom pulled me aside to tell me that they would not be coming to my wedding. I had included them on a list of “family” emails my wedding planner asked for, but had assumed we would all silently agree not to discuss it. That surely I had suffered enough. That I had struggled enough. That I had lost enough family already.

But they needed to remind me that my love was unnatural, immoral, and a crime within their organization.

To remind me that Ella wasn’t worthy of being in a family photo.

And lastly, to remind me that if I ever used my public platform to speak out against their organization that that “would be it.”

It’s taken me six months to decide I am comfortable with that.

My Dad is an Elder. I was a raised a Jehovah’s Witness. I was never baptized. However, I grew up in the organization, I can recite all the names of the literature from memory, I’ve been to more District Conventions and Memorial Services than I care to recall. I’ve gone out in Field Service. I’ve preached Door to Door. I still have the songs singing in my head.

I grew up fearing my annihilation and the annihilation of everyone who is not a Witness.

Returning to the choices we make… I choose to share this:

I do not believe it is a safe or healthy environment for women or children. I believe it protects those it should not protect. I believe it holds itself above the law.

I believe it is a cult.

If you would like to learn more about The Witnesses I encourage you to speak to people who have fled the cult and lost everything in the process. Again, I was never officially baptized, and yet this organization has taken from me something I desperately wanted to carry through this life and into the next the unconditional love and support of a parent.