I've been an ex Muslim for a number of years now. I was brought up in a pretty strict Muslim household, yet strangely enough my father wasn't 'strict' on some issues, such as marriage.
I've questioned certain parts of Islam since when I was a girl, I've always had issues with homophobia, apostasy, women's lack of rights, sex outside or marriage etc.
I also wondered about this hell that some people have an obsession with, I used to wonder why non-Muslims that I met, who were good people would go to hell, when there were some horrible Muslim people.
It was pretty easy for me to leave Islam, as after the death of my parents I only had my sister left-so no uncles, aunt's, cousins etc-as most of them are in Pakistan.
This helped me so very much to leave Islam, as there were no nosey relatives spying on me, or reporting things to my parents, wanting me to get married off etc.
I also learned to lie and hide my true feelings and actions from my parents-I know this is not ideal, but it worked for me at that time.
In fact all of my friends were non-Muslim when I left, so I didn't have to go through the painful and hurtful ordeal people often have to go through, where they lose most or all of their Muslim friends, and of course issues arise with parents or relatives.

The reason I want to join is because I would like to listen to people, help them and be there for them if I can in any way.
Even if I can't help-maybe somebody can talk to me and talking can very often help people.