Scientology No Road To Oz, Says “Gay Actor”

It’s raining Scientology books!

First came Andrew Morton’s Tom Cruise tell-all, now author Ian Halperin turns his attention to the out-of-this-world religion. Hollywood Undercover chronicles Halperin’s adventures as a “gay actor” trying to join the church, which he says promised to cure him of his homosexuality. From the peppy press release:

In Hollywood Undercover, New York Times bestselling author Ian Halperin poses as a gay actor to infiltrate the Church, which has long been rumoured to promise a “cure” for homosexuality.
…
In Halperin’s rollicking first-hand account – where he seeks the Church’s advice about how to become a movie star – he recounts his bizarre tour of the Scientology Celebrity Centre on Hollywood Boulevard and his visit to world headquarters where a Church cameraman documents his every move from behind a bush, and where an official offers to turn him straight through a series of courses called “auditing.”

Halperin also tracked down former Scientologist Michael Pattinson, who left the religion after eighteen years.

There’s so much more after the jump…

Here’s some video of Pattinson describing Scientology’s publicity-centric approach to sexuality: “I know that it’s very important for public relations that, within the industry, some of these people are seen to be straight, while actually being gay and trying to handle it through Scientology.” Pattinson also claims closeted cases have code named files – Maverick? – containing their deepest, faggiest secrets. https://youtu.be/z8iBaETsIok
Meanwhile, in other Scientology news, a reader raised some lingering questions about founder L. Ron Hubbard’s death. Quentin Hubbard apparently had a yen for men, a big no-no for big daddy L. Ron.

Author Jon Atack writes in Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed:

Quentin had tried to measure up to his father’s expectations – he was one of the few top-grade Class Twelve Auditors – but he did not share his father’s temperament. By all accounts he was far too gentle to govern Scientology, or indeed to govern anything. All he wanted was to fly airplanes, and he often pleaded with his father to allow him to leave the Sea Org and do just that. He had disappeared several times in an attempt to escape. There was also an aspect of his nature which could never be reconciled with his father’s philosophy: Quentin was a homosexual.

Young Quentin died in 1976. Though Atack describes Quentin’s carbon monoxide poisoning as “self-inflicted,” Hubbard’s former assistant Robert Vaughn Young’s 1994 affidavit says otherwise:

Hubbard’s son Quentin also died under mysterious circumstances in 1976. He had disappeared from his home in Clearwater, Florida, and was found unconscious in a car next to the Las Vegas airport…

The engine of the car was on and a hose ran from the exhaust pipe (although it appeared to have fallen off when the authorities arrived) to the window, making it appear to be a suicide. But, like his father’s death, there were a number of nagging questions. For example, Quentin was found unkempt with a beard stubble, a state that no one who knew Quentin could accept. (He was ultra-meticulous in his appearance.) Or that the license plate of the car was missing and found under a rock some distance away. Or that his wallet was gone, making identification impossible. Or that a near-empty bottle of liquor was found, as if he had been drinking, when Quentin did not. Or that there were needle marks on his arms, when he did not use drugs.

Young’s affidavit also discusses how Hubbard used “sexual charges” against his enemies. Quentin did not have carbon monoxide in his system, says the coroner’s report.

So basically Scientology is not gay-friendly, possibly murderous and definitely fucking crazy.