Eaton

Although completely off topic on this thread I just thought I would mention this: This has already changed. Victims are no longer  required to “testify” in front of JC elders, and sisters may be able to assist the elders in establishing facts etc. (however sisters will never be able to take part in a JC committee because of its “official” nature).
View the 2017 Child Safeguarding policy HERE
This particular one is for the UK and Ireland, it will be the same all over the world.

*the starting picture of the video - causes transmitted meaning, allegory
Some day in the future Judicial Committees in JW congregations will be consist of male and female members. Sisters role for "peace and security aka safety"  for the children that have been molested, from JW members inside families or congregation or anyone else, will be of crucial, important meaning. Children, female children particularly, perhaps would found to feel more comfortable to answer on intimate questions in front of compassionate woman then before man. Not ask me why? You can imagine why? (JC elders asking very inappropriate questions, interrogation to children (and adults too) about sexual experience and what and how all that have happened) causing more trauma because elders have  not proper education (in every way) to deal with such sensitive issue.
quote under the picture of Dragan Covic: "We appreciate the decisive role of women in all process (of investigation and judging)
message from UN poster: "Together for Peace. Respect, Safety@Dignity For All (victims of injustice that was caused by man) 

If there is "no one else", then who is this?
 
 
 

Will it affect us?  I have been mediating on this:  
"Pay attention to yourselves that you do not get weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and the anxieties of life, and suddenly, that day is instantly upon you as a snare. For it will come to all those on the face of the whole earth."  Luke 21: 34-35
I like how 'anxieties of life' is liked to heavy drinking or eating.  If someone is drunk all of the time, they are basically unreasonable and completely absorbed. We see that all of the time in the drug culture. NOTHING is important to them other than the next hit!   The people who are so wound up in, my house, my job, my family, all I have to do.......I liken them to a drug addict.  They are so involved in daily anxieties, they give NO consideration to God, to Jesus, to anything other than their own world. But the last sentence is indeed the place to think!  
Every person on the face of the earth.  We will not be watching this on TV.  We will be actively impacted.  Death does not conquer us.  Even if we lose are lives during the events up to the end, ' not a hair on on head will perish.' 
Keep going brothers and sisters!  We need to get the word out that this world is coming to its inevitable concluding.  And Jehovah's Kingdom will reign forever!  
 

Jehovah is the final judge since only he knows the heart but the elders have an obligation to keep the congregation clean so one person doesn't affect others. Even if the courts deem the elders decision wrong which is doubtful the congregation will still honor the elders decision. It isn't  called shunning it is disfellowshipping. It appears you are not at all familiar with Jehovah's Witnesses from the words you use. Besides the elders know the inside story of all the details which not everyone does

UPDATE: We're good to go! Our film begins pre-production in March and goes to Camera in October!
This is a short clip based on the concept of the upcoming film written by Patrick Chilvers in collaboration with Alex Riker, a former Jehovah's Witness.
Blood [working title] is a feature film about a woman torn between deeply held beliefs and the risk of losing her daughter. Filled with captivating characters and set against a backdrop of the Jehovah's Witness culture, this drama poses interesting questions and looks at the place where religious ideals clash with human rights.
For more information or to inquire about partnering with us for this project, please contact Alex at ariker4@yahoo.ca
Producer: Alex Riker
Writer: Patrick Chilvers
Director: Jason Armstrong
DoP: David Mun
Prod. Company SKG films.

We should be very careful to proclaim something that does not come from the faithful and clever servant ..! Knowing something that comes from the Witnesses of Earlier Jehovah does not provide an insight into how Jehovah views it, but "may" be a subtle way of Satan to cast doubt into our minds. We have been warned repeatedly to contend with something that comes from exiled and former Jehovah's witnesses who do not want to submit to Jehovah's rule ..! I have therefore not seen this film and can only endure it to be taken away. Jehovah's loving organization gives us all we need and those who do not want this and who have known for the truth, they have been excluded from the community to protect the true Christians.!

I'm very sorry you are going through this, @ImStrugglingBad, but please be assured you are not alone. I'm also very sorry about the close friends you've lost. But I'm glad you have had some understanding and support from the congregation - not everyone gets that.
It's worrying that the stress and depression has reached levels so that you want to self-harm. Please, please contact a suicide prevention helpline if you are getting these urges.
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/lgbtq/
http://oneloveallequal.org/2016/08/24/self-harm-hotlines/
As I said, you are not alone. You might like to read stories of those who have been struggling as you have.
http://www.jwhc.info/a-personal-story.php -This site has a private forum where you may find support from fellow gay JWs. I don't know the quality or vibe of the forum,  so you'll have to figure out for yourself whether it's a healthy and comfortable place to be.
There's also this person's experience you might like to read: http://jwfacts.com/watchtower/blog/gay-jw-hardship.php
You are valuable, wanted, and loved. There will be a way through this. Please hang in there. (((Internet hugs)))

Unfortunately, he is stuck with you, the same way he is stuck with me.
Many times he has tried to get out of his contract with me, which he perhaps feels he made too hastily. However, I always show him the forgiveness clause and he has no recourse but to back down - even though he may grumble about it. I have him over a barrel.
I'm kidding, of course, but only partly. There is a forgiveness clause - though, to be sure, we are not to "accept the undeserved kindness of God and miss its purpose." But let God determine when that has happened, not you.
Good. That means you also don't know that he doesn't approve of you. Assume that he does. Focus on the love. The forgiveness clause has him backed into a corner. You have him where you want him.
 
Because you figure Jehovah would understand your feelings and forgive you? He probably would, but the fallacy is to think he will not regarding the current struggles you go through, even if you feel you are getting pasted. Your family will forgive you, too, but they will be crushed - perhaps for life.
 
To the extent you can, lay off on this kind of thinking. We are all basket cases in one way or another - whether in the truth or not. Let God figure it out when and if you have disappointed him. All you really have to do for now is to avoid homosexual acts, which can't be super-hard because they always involve another party. In this respect you are no different from a straight person who is yet single. Viewing pornography is not good, but it is largely not good because it draws you into a funnel that doesn't end and the funnel skews your future ability to relate to a real person. Again, this is no less true of a straight person.
 
No. Even if you are a complete scoundrel in your congregation - and your comments make it very clear that you are not - you are doing a tremendous service right now by bringing something taboo but potentially lethal out in the open and allowing others, many of whom are mature, to comment. It is a thread that may benefit not just you, but they, and also others who may have the same issue as they stumble across it later.
Lay off on the guilt, to the extent you can. Or put it in perspective. Count yourself like Paul who pummeled himself and declared himself a 'miserable man' because what he wanted to do he did not do, and what he did not want to do he did do. What was his issue, anyway? Who's to say he was not gay, facing exactly the same troubles you face? I've no reason to think it is true, but I have no reason to think it is not true. It doesn't matter. It could be true, and that is good enough for you. His exact demon is probably left vague for exactly that reason - to help many persons in many struggles who will see that he is saying "been there, done that" and say "maybe he is talking about my problem."
Maybe even self-abuse is what he is carrying on about. Who can say? Masturbation is not great, but it is in some respects like porn - its the end result of a long habit that will mess you up, not an instance of the habit itself. Recently I read in some city how the cops were busting men for masturbation in the park. These were businessmen in suits on their lunch hour who were married. There were not few of them. Yes, sexual appetite unrestrained leads to the most disturbing conduct, but that is not at all true of a lapse here and there, which can be shrugged off as an "oh, well - life goes on." Lay off on the guilt is what I'm saying. Big as that Bible is, and as many are the things that it condemns, it no where condemns self abuse specifically. You must read it in from other verses having to do with self-control and with wholesome outlook about proper sexual relations. You read it in properly, make no mistake, but you must read it in nonetheless. If it were really a big deal, it would be the 11th commandment. Sometimes I think it is as much a Victorian relic as a biblical one that we carry on about it as much we do.
What are the things that really get God going - from that proverb about the six things that he hates - no, wait - make that seven? He hates anyone spreading contentions among brothers. You doing that? I don't think so. He hates "feet that are in a hurry to run to badness." It seems you are doing all you can to glue yours to the floor. "A false tongue" he hates. You been doing any lying lately? It doesn't look like it here. Oh, and he hates "hands that are shedding innocent blood" How are you doing on that score? Killed anyone lately? I didn't think so. Cut out Proverbs 6:16-19 and mount it next to the yeartext on your bedroom wall. Mount it over the yeartext, if need be. 
Of course you did.
 
If you fail you fail. Find that scripture about the righteous man who falls seven times and yet gets up each time, and put it next to your other new yeartext. You know what 'seven' means in the Bible - it could be a thousand times he messed up. How come he doesn't lose his 'righteous' status at the 5th failing? Because that's how God is with us - none of us are 'clean.' He deals with it. He doesn't have to. We don't sit back and fleece him for it - that's why we carry on a struggle. But go easy on the guilt. "No temptation has taken you that is not common to men," Paul says, and you don't knock every ball out of the park.
The mantra "born gay" is self-defeating. There is little evidence that it is that way. Gayness may be firmly entrenched for as long as one can remember, but that is not the same thing. Who knows what triggers it? In my youth it was accepted wisdom that it came as a result of parental dynamics, a domineering mother and a retreating father - which is far less depressing for someone determined to abide by God's standards because it implies change is possible. That accepted wisdom was never disproved, just as it was never proved in the first place. It was merely drowned out by another model which has also never been proved, but it is the favored model because it validates a lifestyle that some want validated. If there is one thing that has proven crystal clear in recent decades - to the astonishment of most - it is how amazingly fluid sexuality is. It does not respect 'one man-one woman.' It does not respect gender lines. It does not even respect age limits. It jumps the rails at every turn and is only nudged back on track with only great difficulty. 
How to nudge it? Have 'plenty to do in the work of the Lord,' Paul says. Accept that you have homosexual leanings for now and be done with it. You cannot act upon them, you certainly  work against your own interests should you deliberately cultivate them, but the leanings themselves do not disqualify you. They will fade so subtly you will not notice it, probably over much time, in this system or the next, as you routinely rub shoulders with persons who in this regard have their act together. In other regards, you do and they don't, and when you see someone whose feet are "in a hurry to run to badness," you can stick out one of yours and trip them up. They'll thank you for it later. In this way also you can be like one of the genuine members of the Christian body, which works smoothly with the other members. I don't know that is what Paul had in mind but it works,
No, ISB, you are not a washout. You are doing your brothers a tremendous service and the best is yet to come. "Strengthen your brothers when once you return," Jesus said to Peter. He could strengthen them only because he had gone somewhere. Had he never gone on a difficult journey, he could do no more than say "I know just how you feel." "Yeah, sure you do," his intended recipient would say, rolling his eyes. 

Let's not jump to any conclusions, when it comes to matters of abuse of children that could be among family members or other people within a congregation, the Elders must abide by the law, however the elders are not policemen they deal with sin not crime, but where were the parents in this issue, there are lots of unanswered questions and the elders are not available for comment maybe they did obstruct Justice maybe they did abide by the law maybe they were trying not to embarrass the child or the family, there are lots of different reasons as to why things appear as they do but not knowing the ins and outs of it doesn't mean we should jump to conclusions and assume the worst of them as you are doing and it's not that I blame you because child abuse is a serious issue all over the world today. I went through the Royal Australian commission transcripts and videos for this case against the Watchtower based on people who claimed to be abused and it's never as cut and dry as it appears. once you start to get into this you see that it is everywhere in other organisations and it must be in with the Witnesses as well but it is definitely not practiced with consent by the society and it is definitely not hidden intentionally, however because we don't have the full facts it is not easy to convince people that no wrongdoing has been committed by those in authority because sometimes, in some cases people were not taken seriously and that in itself is wrong but that doesn't mean the whole organisation is bad and Jehovah is displeased with the governing body because of the acts of the few if that were the case Jehovah would have disowned Israel from the very beginning before it even started