Don Ramon's Mexican Restaurant225 11th St San Francisco, CA
More Info (between Howard St & Kissling St) We will be having our meet up after the Folsom Fair.
A Common Bond
Hotel Information - Reserve by September 1, 2011
Time is running out to make your hotel reservations. To take advantage of our group rate you need to reserve your room by September 1st. 2011. If anyone wishes to come a few days prior, or stay a few days later, they will honor that same price for us. When you call to book this hotel, please tell them you want the rate set for AGLBT Common Bond International.
Crowne Plaza - Houston River Oaks (ask for reservations) 2712 Southwest Freeway Houston, TX 77098 (713) 523-8448
Also the conference is at the following address. I realized I had published the wrong address and wanted to repost the correct address.
Houston GLBT Center 401 Branard St Houston, Texas 77006
2011 Conference Details - Updated Address
October 7-9, 2011Houston, Texas
Conference fees:
$50 per person total, which includes snacks, beverages, and Saturday night dinner. You can pay online or by mail. To pay online click pay now on the Paypal link below.
To pay by mail make check, money order payable to A GLBT Common Bond International. Mail to:
A GLBT Common Bond International 3208 Jackson St. Houston, Texas 77004
When your payment is recieved, you will be notified, and a small welcome packet containing complete information about Houston, along with a map, and simple instructions will be emailed to you.
Friday, October 7, 2011
6:30pm – ???
'Meet 'n Greet' at Larry’s House.
We will send you Larry’s address when you register and pay for the conference.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
8:00am to 5:00pm
($50 per person)
Houston GLBT Center 401 Branard St Houston, Texas 77006
This year, being my home city, I have two close friends of mine, who both so happen to be therapists in the gay community. Tony and his partner Bruce are an older couple who have been together for more than 16 years, and are very involved within the Gay Community. Tony specializes with both individual and couples counseling and will probably speak to us about deprogramming from cults, and will also do an in depth workshop on couples counseling. To learn more about Tony, check out his website at www.houstontherapist.com. Tony has always had a deep seated fascination about us gay ex jw's so I suspect he will be asking more questions, than those of us in attendance.
The second guest speaker, a wonderful positive person, who is always so encouraging and is a pleasure to be around is Denise O'doherty. On my worst day, she makes me feel like i'm invincible. She too is very involved in the Houston area gay community. To see more about Denise go to her website www.relationshiptherapistrn.com. She is also a registered nurse, but her second love is counseling, and she is good at it. I am looking forward to seeing what she brings to the table. I will also be adding a couple of inspirational people to the menu as time progresses, but for the moment, these are two people very close to my heart and are looking forward to speaking at our conference. Dinner is included for Saturday night at my house.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
10:00am to 5:00pm
Picnic in the Park (~ $10 per person)
This year, I wanted to do something totally different. Instead of having a two day conference, I thought we could resurrect something from our lives, a good old fashioned 'get together.' I have a beautiful park directly across the street from my house. It has a baseball field, picnic tables, trees that are more than 100 years old, the tree limbs are so long and old, they lay on the ground, and I think this would be an awesome place to have it. So if the weather interferes, or it gets too hot, we can always walk across the street and go back to my house. I was thinking everyone could chip in $10 or so, we could get some fried chicken, potato salad, and such and have a great day together in the park.
Also you need to make your hotel reservations by September 1st to get the deal that Larry negotiated for us. Only $79 a night. If anyone wishes to come a few days prior, or stay a few days later, they will honor that same price for us. Hotel arrangements must be made prior to Sept 1st. When you call to book this hotel, please tell them you want the rate set for AGLBT Common Bond International.
Crowne Plaza - Houston River Oaks (ask for reservations)
2712 Southwest Freeway
Houston, TX 77098
(713) 523-8448
Houston GLBT Center
401 Branard St
Houston, Texas 77006
Samuel's Story
I don't want to be considered an apostate as I strongly believe that we all have a gift our Creator has given us ... our "free will". We have the right to think and do what we want as long as we follow the Golden Rule ... "treat others the way you would like to be treated".
How You Can Help
Feel Charitable? Your contributions go to help cover all the expenses associated with maintaining ACB as an organization as well as this website.
Does A Common Bond “Bash” Jehovah’s Witnesses?
As one might expect, this website is not looked upon favorably by the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) religion. Its membership is taught that homosexuality is "a sin", "an abomination", "detestable", and various other assorted words synonymous with evil. These teachings are based on certain cited passages in the Bible that the JWs are taught condemn homosexuality. We have been accused of infiltrating their assemblies, trying to "recruit" members into "the gay lifestyle." Announcements have been made at some of their assemblies to "beware of homosexual apostates" in their midst.
A Different View of Homosexuality …according to the Bible
As Jehovah's Witnesses, we were taught to think of ourselves in such a way, believing that the Bible passages commonly cited in Watchtower publications were correct interpretations, and that our only hope for salvation was to attempt to lead a heterosexual lifestyle, or at least remain celibate for the rest of our lives.
Are you an active Jehovah's Witness?
This essay is written specifically for active Jehovah's Witnesses who are visiting this site who are self-identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or who are questioning their sexual orientation. While most of this web site is geared towards the individual who has left or been expelled from the Organization, we felt the need to build a page specifically geared for active Witnesses. Several chapters of A Common Bond have attendees who are active Witnesses. The purpose of this essay is not to try to persuade you to leave the Organization, but rather to present you with facts and give you the opportunity to formulate your own decision. We always welcome private correspondence from active Witnesses, which will be held in strict confidence.
Read MoreStacey's Story
"I found out that the Watchtower and Awake offered only simplistic solutions of the type: 'Do you sin? Well, then don't!'"
Jessica's Story
"To complicate my story a bit, I just so happened to be a transsexual. Our society in general has a hard time accepting people like me so I can’t fairly lay all blame for my life at the witnesses’ doorstep, however, my life did become a living hell."
Victor's Story
"Convinced that the solution to my problem was to fill my life with service, I quit higher education and dedicated my life to service, sharing my gift by spreading the message to all whom deserve it. I was 22 at the time, I had served as a missioner for about 2 years. I didn’t have much, no money or luxuries; I was living in a room I rented. I was happy doing such fulfilling service, yet the ghost of the abuse, rape and homosexuality was haunting me."
Ramon's Story
"I need to tell you two things. Number one, I’m gay, and, number two, I don’t want to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses any longer."
Michaela's Story
"I figured I would probably die, but at that point I didn't really care. I decided that all the questions I'd always secretly had were going to be answered."
Marc's Story
"I knew I would not find any support from within the Organization, so why keep putting myself through that sort of pain?"
John's Story
"While I originally decided to leave the Organization solely due to my sexual orientation, I later came to realize how many other areas it was also wrong in."
Frank's Story
"I reconstructed my life by going back to college, often feeling like I was the oldest student in each class."
Brittany's Story
"Because I knew exactly what was to follow, I had confirmed with my employer that I could stay at her place when I got kicked out, which (unsurprisingly) happened."
Arman's Story
"I would like to meet the elders that excommunicated my daughter and allow me to judge your daughters. As being an ex-Jehovah's Witness, your Bible does not condemn a man loving another man, or a woman loving another woman, lest you interpret love and sex as one concept."
Starting a New ACB Chapter
While our email discussion groups and private correspondence are valuable resources for support, the benefits of face-to-face meetings are incalculable, as anyone who has ever attended a local ACB group or one of our international conferences will tell you. There are still many thousands of gay & lesbian JWs and exJWs out there who currently do not have internet access, and we need to reach out to these individuals as well.
Steve's Story
I find that suicide is very common among witnesses, because they don't give you a healthy way to deal with the real issues, but just kind of sweep them under the carpet making everything 'go away'.