In the mid-1970's I recall reading a JW Yearbook of 1974 or 1975 or thereabouts (not sure of exact year) that spoke about "gangs of homosexuals" in Brooklyn. I distinctly remember reading in that JW Yearbook that these homosexuals preyed upon Bethelites, specifically those outside the compound due to attend meetings at their assigned congregations in Brooklyn. I recall that it mentioned some were raped, and that some became homosexuals and were expelled. I read this over 25 years ago, sorry if my memory on specifics is fuzzy. Perhaps the exact Yearbook is on the Watchtower CD, and can be searched by keywords like "homosexual", "rape", and "Bethel"?
Aside from the Yearbook's side of the story, I have also heard about this story from a Bethel brother firsthand. In the upper-mid-1970's a brother and friend left Bethel after serving for 4 years, and came to live in the same large home where many single brothers shared rent, chores and held book studies. That is also where I lived. (I had been baptized for a few years, and in my late teens.)
This Bethel brother said there was a "homosexual epidemic at Bethel" as he described it. The congregations in the area were "expelling gross-wrongdoers right and left" he said. He claimed that evidently "some who had fallen into these unnatural works of the flesh were recruiting naive 18 year old Bethelites, evidently confused about their sexual identities and powerless to resist their raging hormones, as male escorts" (as close to his exact words as I remember). He also said some of the young Bethelites "with good looks, specifically the bodybuilder types due to heavy lifting in the bindery" were taken by gangs outside the Bethel complexes. This lead to mass hysteria, he said, amongst those at the top of the organization who turned Bethel into an "ultra-modern fortress" with enclosed bridges connecting buildings, and underground tunnels, etc., to prevent new Bethel recruits from having to leave the compound. They viewed Brooklyn at that time as like Sodom and Gomorrah, and believed this was all the more reason to think the end was quickly drawing near.
Thanks to his telling of this sordid human tragedy, I decided not to apply for Bethel service (which I aspired to)! Yes, like many my age, my hormones were in over-drive and I wasn't about to be exploited by what appeared to be an organized crime element nested right inside of "God's organization"! As word spread of this situation, many young men decided not to attend Bethel. I even recall an emphasis for "married brothers and sisters" to enlist at Bethel and share accommodations in order to discourage "temptation the single brothers were experiencing".
My stomach is getting knotted with an unpleasant feeling of stress over these tragic memories. I hope this has helped give some breadth to what occurred in those extremely immoral times of the 1970's.
Derrick
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
-- William Blake (Auguries of Innocence)
