Activist Kate Bornstein on Scientology
COMMUNITY NEWS / "I worked with L. Ron Hubbard directly. I was first mate on his fucking ship"
Xtra staff / National / Monday, August 27, 2012
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Trans activist and author Kate Bornstein has released her autobiography, A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir. In the book she recounts her journey as a trans person and her involvement in the Church of Scientology.
 
“I was a member of what they call the Sea Organization,” recounts Bornstein in an interview conducted in advance of  the release of her book. “This is their top management group.“
 
“I worked with L. Ron Hubbard directly. I was first mate on his fucking ship.”
 
Bornstein eventually left the church, which led to one of the most painful chapters of her life. 

For more on this and Bornstein’s story check out Xtra's video interview.
 
 
 


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Reader Comments


 
Mistaken or Purposefully Misleading?
PLEASE read this to get the TRUTH on this topic: There are large falsehoods in the lady's tale: 1. The only time one has to cut communication with anyone is when that someone has been an UNRELENTING pain in the ass, AND meetings, reason and logic have failed to bring peace, YET that person PERSISTS in BUTTING INTO the Scientologist's life to persuade them how bad and wrong Scientology is. 2. Haters NEVER PUBLISH how TOLERANT Hubbard is about homosexuality, trans, et al. VERBATIM from a taped lecture: "You worry about homosexuality...I don't know how there could be anything else, the way you get scrambled on sexes on the track [a soul's history thru time]. It is quite remarkable that the sexes stay straight! I mean, I think that's the remarkable thing. - Lecture, July 1957, "Child Scientology" ALSO VERBATIM from a taped lecture: "Now, here's what happens. A thetan [soul] decides that she's a good woman and makes a lousy man, and 50 percent of the bodies that thetan picks up, on the average, the rough average, are going to be male bodies. And yet this thetan knows she is a good woman. "Now, she has the task, somewhere very early in life or even before birth, or something of the sort, of flipping this body, or trying to flip it, or fitting (if she can't) a male body into a female role. Got the idea? ... "All right, this fellow decides that being a man fits his basic purposes and his basic personality, and so forth, yet 50 percent of the time he picks up female bodies. What's he going to do with them? Just collapse at that point and everything he likes to do and so forth, and be a female for just a lifetime?" - Lecture, 3 January 1960, "Your Case" AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE! They think that homosexuality is a horrible problem. In light of what I'm giving you here, HOMOSEXUALITY IS ABOUT AS SERIOUS AS SNEEZES! - Lecture, October 1952, "The Resolution of the Second Dynamic [family and sex]"
HillRunner, Burbank, CA
08/28/12 4:36 PM EST
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Lies
When I joined 38 yrs ago, it worked for a short time, but I joined the Sea Org and it became hell. I snuck out in the middle of the nite and never looked back. But now out of the blue, they have tracked me down and have begun calling me every day. This scares me for many reason. 1. How did they find me and 2 why? I requested they stop calling but they don't care what I want. I will contact a lawyer and begin a suit. But if you know of a ything else I could, please
Janis Rangel, Fort Collins Us
08/28/12 5:27 PM EST
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con artists never change
Now the pieces fall into place. It figures she was a Scientologist. Her pronouncements against gay men over the years have a cult like fanatical hatred just like those of scientology. A fake and a phoney peddler of various snake oil bullshit. Her "gender workbook" had questions like, would you rather wear a dress or would you rather be Hitler? A dress? See you are gender fluid too! Just like me -- everyone is just like me! What a fucking Idiot.
sniff reality, toronto on
08/28/12 5:36 PM EST
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Scientology is one fucked up cult
As an atheist all religions seem nutty to me, but Scientology is by far the nuttiest religion ever, far nuttier than the Raelians or any other such religion. Don't Scientologists find it just a little suspicious that their leader and founder was a science fiction writer? Well I guess in their own ways all religions are science fiction being based on mysterious other worlds and life after death and blah blah blah. But Scientology really takes the cake for its attempts to control every aspect of its members lives and the media portrayal of their cult. It says something that the first post on this story was from a Scientologist all the way from their holy land. I know Xtra does have US readers but I never knew it was so popular with Scientologists in California. Or do they maintain staff who just keep scouring the internet for any mention of their cult? Or is it true they constantly spy on ex-cult members? Maybe its a bit of both. Too bad for Scientology that the truth about them can be found on the internet by anyone seeking it, they keep trying to shut down sites that don't promote their official vision of themselves but once its out on the internet its never going to disappear, in this case thankfully.
Rich, Toronto Ontario
08/30/12 12:45 AM EST
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