Out with Consequences: A Journey out of Jehovah's Witnesses

In her memoir Out with Consequences, Debbie L. McDaniel, a disfellowshipped Jehovah's Witness, details a childhood of sexual abuse suffered at the hands of an elder whom the church refuses to punish.

As a child McDaniel learned how deep cultures of shame, denial, and hypocrisy can be when she is made to suffer a years-long cycle of sexual abuse at the hands of a church elder. When simultaneously speaking out and admitting her homosexuality gets her disfellowshipped, McDaniel is shunned by not only the congregation, but also her family-all while her abuser remains in good standing with the church.

The church warns her and other victims to keep quiet. And going to the authorities does little to help; although her abuser is arrested for his crimes, he is just as quickly released. Despite it all, she survives the fallout to tell her story.

In a time when churches' stances on sexual abuse and homosexuality are constantly making headlines, Out with Consequences offers a must-read perspective. Written with the strength of voice of someone who has seen it all, McDaniel's story is sure to teach other survivors that if she can survive, they can too.