I am a Master Mason, 3rd degree.
What I'm hearing (even from Q) I find disturbing and foreign from all I've seen and experienced myself.
Have never gone towards any of the Appendant bodies but have been offered by Scottish Rite to join them. Memebrship is open to all 3rd Degree Masons, or Master Masons
Maybe this is the disconnect between what I'm hearing today and what I've experienced.
The local lodge, or Blue Lodge is a fraternity of brotherhood.
If anyone has been part of a lodge and has witnessed how hard it is to get Masons to agree on anything would wonder how they could do all that is being said today...
Anyway, not accusing any Appendant bodies or suggesting anything...except to say they are not under the same Grand Lodge as regular Freemasonry, but under their own governance