I have a very out and publicly known gay sibling.
This split my extremely theocratic minded family in to a severe schism that has been on going long before I learned TTAT.
Yesterday was a wonderful day for my sibling. We have always maintained our relationship and the df and "gay" labels as determined by the Org were never applicable between just the two of us.
That is part of what caused such a split among our family. I would simply not turn my back on this one relative and my other siblings were more than willing to do so. . The DF policy was what made them feel they had the right to be homophobic. There was no talking to them or reasoning with them about the real issue (being gay) once they had THAT DF stamp of approval from the Org,
This moment in time is of course, a very tsk tsk one for my highly functioning (one missionary, the rest pioneers) other family members.
One thing I know for sure having known them all my life, 2 of them would not act this way if they did not have the others pressuring them. The "others" wouldnt carry so much influence if they didnt "speak for God via the Org."