“I’m not sorry for who I am.” When you think about that statement and life as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, it holds certain weight. But what if you were born into a body that didn’t fit the person that you knew yourself to be? Meet Mitch, a trans man that had to go on quite a journey to be himself. When you grow up in a cult, where you are supposed to be like everyone else, it takes tremendous courage to be yourself. Sadly it often comes with a heavy price as well, but that freedom to be oneself is priceless.
Note: There were some technical issues recording this episode in video format via Zoom so both the video and audio versions have an awkward moment or three where we had trouble syncing up and one or the other of us ended up talking over the other. We did our best to overcome the lagging that we dealt with.
The songs that Mitch chose to represent his journey are My Immortal and also Bring Me To Life by Evanescence. He also chose the song In The End by Linkin Park.
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You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show.
This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app or on YouTube. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
Music by Fair Voyeur entitled “No Hell Yet”.
I just wanted to thank you for sharing your story Mitch. I feel you are very brave for doing so. I believe stories like yours area necessary. It reminded me of the stories I hear on the podcast Risk.
Thank you. I do things like putting my life JOURNEY out there to HELP!!! PERIOD ❤️
I just finished listening to your interview. Wow! You are brave and so strong. I am sorry your mother is/was shunning you. I am listening years after your interview so I don’t know if the situation is still the same. I hope she has changed and maybe even left the cult. If not, I hope you are still doing good and continuing your growth. I also hope that your son has come around too. Congrats on your transition and being your authentic self. I just lost my best friend to cancer and my godson is on the path of transitioning now. I am so glad I left the cult as a teen so that my mind was able to be open to him and his journey. I understand a lot of what you were saying about still believing for a long time and also about allowing your child to be turned against you unwillingly where you didn’t even realize it was happening. My mother tried that with my kids until I saw what was going on. I felt so much of what you said, even about your mother telling the hospital about the NO BLOOD issue. My mother did the same when I was in a horrible car accident as a teen but I had been DF’d before the accident. She was willing to let me die for a religion that rejected me and kicked me out. Crazy. I just really felt so much of what you said in your interview. Thank you so much for sharing your story.