A Former Scientologist Wrote A Book About Her Ugly COS Coming Out Story

Name one gay Scientologist. Scratch that, name one openly gay Scientologist. I certainly can’t think of one. And if you Google “Scientology homosexuality” you won’t be able to find out the organization’s official policy because apparently it’s “don’t ask, do tell (your auditor)”. So much for finding out about it straight from the source, Jenna! But you can find out from another source: According to People, former Scientologist Michelle LeClair just wrote a book about her treatment by the organization after she came out as gay. It went about as well as you’d think.

When she was an active member of the organization, Michelle was a very successful businesswoman and as such, a big time donor to the tune of about $5 million dollars over the years. She described herself as a Scientology “poster girl” until she came out and was “humiliated and persecuted her over her sexuality”. When Michelle first tried to come out, an auditor basically just handed her some pages which said “L. Ron Hubbard considered homosexuals and other ‘perverts’ as ‘evil, untrustworthy, a criminal”. That move had her shook so she kept quiet about it for a minute.

She says her second attempt to come out was met with punishment. She was forced to do some Cersi cosplay and walk up to other members of the church and “confess” her feelings which led to people telling her she was “disgusting” to her face. Michelle understandably became confused about her sexuality and was encouraged to “push down those feelings”.

In an effort to ungayify herself, Michelle caved into pressure from the organization to marry a person with a penis. She married fellow Scientologist and “struggling actor” Sean Seward. They had four children together but when she confessed that she’d had a fling in high school with a girl, he ratted her out to the organization. And that’s when things got really draconian.

“I was ordered to walk the halls of the Scientology Celebrity Centre [in Hollywood] asking random members to read and sign my confession. I needed 25 signatures to be allowed to rejoin the church. I was so mortified that, after 10 or 15 requests, I ran to the bathroom and sobbed.”

After that Michelle decided she needed a divorce and threatened to stop making donations until they let her get one. I guess Jenna wasn’t answering her calls or something. COS like their money more than they hate divorces so they agreed. But guess what? Baby girl still preferred tacos over sausages. She met a woman with whom she struck up a special friendship. She thought that since she was still giving them so much money, they’d let it slide but nah. When the church found out she was friends with a lady who wears trousers, she was outed to the “church ethics department“. Oh bitter irony.

Michelle couldn’t tolerate it any longer and finally broke with the church. That’s when the spying, hacking, and eventual COS instigated lawsuit against her business (they claimed she was running a ponzi scheme. Funny, that money was clean enough for their coffers). Ultimately Michelle had to shut down her business and fork over $1.3 million in settlements.

Of course, the COS says it’s all bullshit and that Michelle is to blame for her own legal troubles and that the organization has “no position on sexual orientation“, which, kind of is a position, if you think about it. They say she’s lying to sell books. To which I say, is it available for pre-order or what?

Pic: People