The Watchtower is - as every other fundamentalist religious sect - strongly against homosexuality.
Let us look into a few cases from their own ranks.

This page is a compilation of observations and experiences culled from numerous former members of the Watchtower's New York and Canadian Bethel  families, as well as outside sources and other current or ex-Jehovah's Witnesses.

Take from the Watchtower Observer website:

Leo Greenlees

Governing Body member Leo K. Greenlees was forced to resign and leave Bethel in late 1984. He entered the Toronto, Canada Bethel in 1936, eventually becoming treasurer of the Canadian branch and of the IBSA of Canada. In 1964 he went to Brooklyn Bethel, and in 1965 was elected as a director of the Society's New York corporation. As a director Greenlees automatically became a "governing body" member when that body was formally instituted in 1971. He often spoke at Gilead graduations, and was the concluding speaker for the day at the Watchtower Centennial business meeting at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 6, 1984. A 1982 Watchtower mentions him as being on the Teaching Committee of the Governing Body. Greenlees' last mention in Watchtower publications is in the December 1, 1984 Watchtower where he is said to have passed out diplomas at the September Gilead graduation. In late 1984, Greenlees was allegedly convicted by the rest of the Governing Body of molesting a ten year old boy. The boy's parents had complained to the Society and it took action. Greenlees was a friend of the family and often visited them. After leaving Bethel Greenlees served as a Special Pioneer and eventually an elder in the "Downtown" congregation in New Orleans, Louisiana. He died in the late 1980s. Interestingly, the boy who Greenlees molested applied for Bethel service a few years later, around 1991, and was rejected. Watchtower leaders apparently feared that other Bethelites would tell him the 'rumors' about Greenlees, not knowing that he was Greenlees' victim, and cause the young man to know that justice had not been done. He might then have confirmed the rumors

Percy Chapman

Percy Chapman was another member of Bethel accused of being homosexual. It was alleged that Chapman was a one-time lover of GB member Leo Greenlees. In 1959, under hint of homosexual scandal, Knorr went to Canada to replace Chapman, who was the Canadian Branch overseer. Knorr demoted Chapman to janitor, but let him remain at Toronto Bethel--on condition he marry. According to Larry D., a Toronto former JW, "Percy ... was totally anti-marriage and he made sure that none of the "Bethel boys" even contemplated the subject ...." Larry described the Bethel boys of the 1950s. "They were all young and handsome, hand-picked by Percy Chapman; there was even an elite group known as 'Percy's boys' who would accompany him to expensive restaurants and bars ... at the time, Bethel was on Irwin Avenue in the center of the gay district of Toronto. There was even a Kingdom Hall above 'The Parkside,' one of Toronto's few gay bars in the fifties and sixties." After Chapman's disgrace, Larry, who personally knew Greenlees, wrote, "Poor Leo Greenlees, Percy's close companion for three decades ... had to find himself a new roommate. ... He was very open about his homosexuality to those few good-looking young brothers .... He would bring along another Bethel boy, Lorne Bridle, who was very good looking and charming." Regardless of his dubious relationship with Chapman, Greenlees became Treasurer of WTB&TS and one of the Governing Body. According to Larry, "He managed to escape the witch hunt at Brooklyn Bethel in the early seventies when dozens of Bethel boys were disfellowshipped after learning of their midnight trysts in the sauna in Brooklyn Bethel."

Editors note: Although this may not be concrete proof, it is with firm conviction that we print this article. Thanks to the testimony of many people who worked at Bethel during this time, we can be sure that this was common knowledge. Before you cast aside this article, please remember what the Watchtower of January 1st, 1986 said:

"Shocking as it is, even some who have been prominent in Jehovah's organization have succumbed to immoral practices, including homosexuality, wife swapping, and child molesting"

An interesting point to consider : In March 1969 sixty homosexuals left the world headquarters called Bethel in Brooklyn but then Watchtower President Nathan Knorr demanded that this also be covered up.

Ewart Chitty

Governing Body member Ewart Chitty (born ca. 1898) resigned his position in 1979. He entered the London Bethel in 1921, began to work in "the office", and by 1938 held some sort of official position, as two 1938 Watchtowers have him reporting to J. F. Rutherford on the attendance of Bethel family members at the "family" study. By 1942 Chitty was the secretary of the International Bible Students Association (IBSA; the Society's British equivalent of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.). Somewhere along the line he was appointed as secretary-treasurer of the IBSA, which position he held until his appointment to the Governing Body in November 1974. After his 1979 resignation from the GB, Chitty remained in Brooklyn working in Writing Correspondence, so he was certainly in good standing. A 1981 Awake! article has Chitty making comments about people having lost their love of neighbour and God. Apparently by this time Chitty was drinking heavily, according to close acquaintances. Likely this contributed to his being dismissed from Brooklyn and reassigned to the London Bethel a few years later. There he worked at an assignment of little responsibility, but was appointed an elder in a local congregation. Chitty died about 1993. As to Chitty's alleged homosexuality, he certainly made some remarks in his 1963 life story in The Watchtower that leaned in this direction. By then he had roomed with the same man for 30 years . When in Brooklyn, Chitty seems to have preferred younger men as roommates. The actual charge brought to the GB against Chitty was made by a former roommate and involved some sort of inappropriate conduct. The GB concluded that Chitty had homosexual tendencies, whatever that means, and asked him to resign. Chitty could hardly do anything but comply with the rest of the GB's wishes, since his only alternative would have been to leave Bethel at age 81 and after being there for 58 years. It may well be that the GB didn't view Chitty as guilty of homosexual activity, since he remained a Bethel member in Brooklyn or London, but it may also be that they made a deal: Chitty would remain quiet about where "the dead bodies" were buried as long as the Society cared for him in his old age.

Related Articles:

All About The Watchtower Governing Body

Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses Grows Old

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society:The Critical Years 1975-1997

The Governing Body's Famous Sayings of the 80s

Watchtower Presidential Era Summaries

Fred Franz Discredited the Concept of a "Governing Body"

Photos of the Governing Body

Most Wanted Watchtower Leaders - For Crimes Against Humanity

The First Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (6)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by mark , July 28, 2009

an interesting read!

however, having sex with a ten year old (regardless of that victim's gender) is not homosexuality. gays and lesbians don't have sex with children.

that's called pedophilia.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +2

...
written by DG , November 19, 2009

You might want to verify the age & timetable for Leo K. Greenless victim Mark Polo.

Six screens conference call has him saying that he was an adult working in the sound dept while Knorr was still alive. Knorr died in 1977 so this victim was an adult by that time. So if he applied to Bethel in 1991 as a "youth" that doesn't add up. The conference call also has him saying he has grandchildren. This call being in 2009.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0

...
written by JJ , December 16, 2009

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”
-Romans 1:1

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 says,

“I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.”

The Scripture is clear throughout that, as believers, we must be careful whom we associate with. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’” And Psalm 1 says, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” We are in the world but not of it. The reality is that, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, we will never be able to be totally separated from evil people as long as we are alive on this earth. Sin is rampant, and unless we go and bury ourselves in a hole in the ground, we will encounter evil people. Jesus didn’t call us to go to a monastery, but He called us to be salt and light as His witnesses. He had a burden to reach out to the corrupt people of the world with the truth of the gospel, bringing grace to the broken and the law to the proud. Either way, He didn’t run from the world and shelter Hi! mself in a sanctified environment of sorts. Rather, He went out to the lost and preached to them. Paul affirms that the objective as believers is not to shelter ourselves from the world entirely but to guard our hearts from taking in its evil influences. In other words, we need to be careful that, even though we are around unsaved people as we go through our day to day lives, we do not let them negatively influence us toward sin. We need to be influencing them toward Christ. Never can we say that we are influencing someone toward Christ when we are, at the same time, engaging in their sinful behavior, even if we try to argue that we are doing it as a way to reach out to them. This is nonsense, and it proves that we have let the leaven of sin corrupt our hearts and deceive our minds. This is what Paul desperately wants us to avoid.

Paul observes in 1 Corinthians 5:1 that there is a horrific sin going on in the church, even worse than the unsaved participate in. He wants this individual removed from the fellowship. The professing believer who makes a practice of sin is, according to Paul, the type of person that we need to avoid at all costs. (Note: Paul is not saying to run away from a brother or sister if they are struggling with a certain sin or if they made a mistake. We all stumble, and God is willing to forgive us an unlimited amount of times. The person Paul has in mind to avoid is not a humble, struggling person but an arrogant, unrepentant person. Those who care less about sin and yet claim to love Jesus have no place in Christ’s church.) The church needs to carry out the process of church discipline by removing the person from fellowship (Matthew 18:15-18, 1 Timothy 1:20). The Christians there needed to stay away from this person until he changed his ways at which point they could gladly! welcome him back into the fellowship. But when confrontation fails to bring conviction and change, church discipline must occur lest the sin spread into the rest of the body. Scripture is adamant that the church not tolerate sin (Revelation 2:20). We must not even eat with those who practice sin and yet call themselves brothers or sisters. The effect of corrupted professing Christians is so detrimental and dangerous even to the most sincere and humble Christians. After all, it is not too difficult to see through the lies of the world as the sin is usually quite blatant and even gloried in. Yet, when a person is allowed to move among the sheep and influence them toward sin, this is typically done in a more calculated, devious manner that is not so obvious and therefore that much more dangerous. These people need to be called out by the church leadership and removed before other sheep are injured and led astray into sin.

In We must not let ungodliness corrupt our hearts and minds, whether from influences outside of the church or from within (2 Corinthians 6:14-1

cool

. Our mission is to preach the gospel, and for this task, we must remain set apart.


now to all disfellowshipped witnesses can you explain what Paul was taking about here please because he states clearly that sinners n believers should not mix?

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +1

...
written by hsddfhd , December 17, 2009

http://www.watchtowerdocuments...sion_2.pdf Secrets of Pedophilia in an American Religion—Jehovah’s Witnesses in Crisis, (2007) A commentary written by former member of the Watchtower organization's Writing Department staff, Barbara Anderson. The author chronicles her experience inside the Watchtower organization with child abuse issues.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0

...
written by sdshsdhsdhsdh , December 18, 2009

- A confessed or convicted pedophile is allowed anonymity within the Watchtower Society.
- Jehovah's Witnesses approve, condone, and encourage accused, confessed, and convicted child molesters to call door to door preaching work.
- Jehovah’s Witnesses threaten parents of molested children with disfellowshipment if they try to warn other members whose children may be in danger.
- Jehovah’s Witness Service Department punish elders in its congregation if they warn parents of pedophiles in their congregation.
- Elders are untrained and unpaid volunteers who are not qualified to handle allegations of child abuse.
- The Watchtower organization is a closed society that encourages incidents of child molestation be handled within the organization.
- The Watchtower Society keeps a secret database listing 23,720 Jehovah Witness pedophiles.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0

...
written by trini_servant , February 11, 2010

sad sad group of people

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0