While we’ve been very busy with the Danny Masterson trial here in Los Angeles, we have managed to keep up on a few other stories that are developing. And one has really hit a critical stage.
Some time ago, we were approached by a young person who is still in the Church of Scientology, but who told us that they were having grave doubts about it.
We have been very cautious about this situation, for obvious reasons. As a young second-generation Scientologist, they have been under heavy recruiting to join the Sea Org, and so their every step is being monitored by the church.
The person wants very much for us to tell our readers what is going on, but they know even a story avoiding details about them like this raises the risk that the Office of Special Affairs will figure out who they are.
Like we said, we have been proceeding cautiously for some weeks now, but then things ramped up in the last few days. You see, Scientology had reached out to this young person, asking them to show up at a Halloween event, and to essentially work a shift as a partygoer to help the church give the impression that its event was a successful one.
However, the person responded that they were unable to go, because they had a previous engagement.
What sort of engagement?
A date, actually.
With who?
With a member of the same sex.
Well, you can imagine how that went over. The young person was then called down to the ethics department, where they were shown L. Ron Hubbard’s words in Dianetics that homosexuality is a “perversion,” and other Scientology materials designed to scare them straight.
They sent us screenshots of the conversation they had with an ethics officer and said we could share them with our readers. But out of caution, we thought it would be better to describe the situation than to show you actual screenshots that might allow OSA to trace back who had sent the texts.
Our correspondent understands that even with those details removed, OSA might be able to track them down. But they wanted us to write this story in order to confirm a few things about what’s going on right now — this week — in Scientology:
1. Young people who have grown up in the church are still being targeted for intense and persistent recruiting to sign the Sea Org’s billion-year contract as young as 15.
2. Scientologists are being pressured to show up to events in order to give the impression that Scientology is more robust than it actually is.
3. Scientology is still as homophobic as ever, and comes down like a ton of bricks on a Scientologist who admits to being attracted to the same sex.
We want to thank this young person for risking so much to help us confirm something we have said over and over: Scientology really never changes.
For some proof of that, please see the stories we have written in the past about Scientology and its stance on homosexuality. A decade ago, at the Village Voice, we told the story of a man named Keith Relkin. A gay man, he had tried to make the public believe that Scientology was accepting, but had to admit to his friends before he died that it had actually treated him horribly. And we also told the story of Derek Bloch, who was not only kicked out of Scientology when he admitted that he was gay, but was also kicked out of his family, which has remained “disconnected” from him to this day. We also posted a video by Nora Crest, who explained maybe better than anyone how Scientology treats people who dare to admit that they are attracted to same-sex partners.
Scientology is still stuck in the 1950s because it considers L. Ron Hubbard, a midcentury reactionary, to be “Source,” and the “auditing” (counseling) he developed with Dianetics and Scientology is considered to be a kind of gay cure. Scientology will never change this attitude because Hubbard died in 1986 and his words are sacrosanct.
And so the result is, a young person in Scientology this very week was shown Hubbard’s words from 1950 condemning homosexuality as a “perversion,” and it will subject them to interrogations and auditing in order to correct their aberration.
Some trick, isn’t it.
Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org
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Believe me, OSA will figure out who this is. That is their job 24-7. They are the Gestapo of this "religion." Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? "Gestapo" and "religion" shouldn't be in the same sentence. And the "G" word is overused but not in this case; believe me; I know.
Thank you 'somebody' for your information. Whatever location you are at, the local CO$ is trying to enforce Lroon's rules and regulations. Keep fighting them and don't pay for any 'life repair' or 'cure the gay' crap.
Just a thought, but if God makes all of us, why is 10% of every population, be it religious, ethnic or tribal, gay? If God made Gay people, who are we to mess with them?