The Bahá'í Faith and homosexuality

Various official statements.
Letter from a Baha'i counselor

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1980-JUL-16 statement on homosexuality written on behalf the House of Justice:

"... you must yourself determine to resist wayward impulses each time they arise and the House of Justice feels that there is no better way than to turn to the Writings to divert our thoughts into spiritual channels, perhaps to concentrate on what we may do to help others along the way to discovering the Baha'i Faith. The more we occupy ourselves with teaching the Cause and serving our fellowman in this way, the stronger we become in resisting that which is abhorrent to our spiritual selves. ₇

1995-SEP-11 statement by the House of Justice:

They wrote a lengthy letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States.". ₁ It stated (in part) that:

"It is important to understand that there is a difference between the Baha'i attitude toward, on the one hand, the condition of homosexuality and those who are affected by it and, on the other, the practice of homosexual relations by members of the Baha'i community..."

"The view that homosexuality is a condition that is not amenable to change is to be questioned by Baha'is...The statistics which indicate that homosexuality is incurable are undoubtedly distorted by the fact that many of those who overcome the problem never speak about it in public, and others solve their problems without even consulting professional counselors..."

"...the kind of sexuality purposed by God is the love between a man and a woman..."

"If, therefore, a homosexual cannot overcome his or her condition to the extent of being able to have as [sic] heterosexual marriage, he or she must remain single, and abstain from sexual relations..."

"The condition of being sexually attracted to some object other than a mature member of the opposite sex, a condition of which homosexuality is but one manifestation, is regarded by the Faith as a distortion of true human nature, as a problem to be overcome... Any Baha'i who suffers from such a disability should be treated with understanding, and should be helped to control and overcome it..."

"If the individual fails to rectify his conduct in spite of repeated warnings, sanctions should be imposed. Assemblies, of course, must exercise care not to pry into the private lives of the believers to ensure that they are behaving properly, but should not hesitate to take action in cases of blatant misbehavior...A flagrant violation of this standard disgraces the Baha'i community in its own eyes even if the surrounding society finds the transgression tolerable." ₁

The authors of this letter appear to have recognized only two sexual orientations: homosexual and heterosexual. They seem to treat all persons with same-sex attractions as homosexual, while ignoring persons with a bisexual orientation. Their reference to "overcoming" and "solving" their "problem" of same-sex attraction may in fact refer to bisexuals who simply decide to confine their pursuit of romantic relationships to members of the opposite sex. This option is not available to lesbians and gays.

Their description of opposite-sex married couples as being in a "heterosexual marriage" also shows their decision to not consider bisexuals. Many same-sex marriages and opposite-sex marriages include one or two bisexuals.

1996 Statement by the National Spiritual Assembly of the UK:

The NSA distributed a statement prepared for a London UK education group about the teaching about homosexuality within the school system. ₂ The Assembly stated that :...the statement does not claim to be exhaustive, but it can be used with wisdom as part of a response to questions." Some excerpts from their statement are:

Their statement that the world's great religions teach that sexual activity must be confined to a man and a woman married to each other is not accurate:

Since there are three sexual orientation among adults, and since a significant minority of school students will become lesbian, gay or bisexual in adulthood, many human sexuality educators recommend that sex-ed classes include information on all sexual orientations.

As to whether the oppression of, discrimination against, and rejection of gays, lesbians and bisexuals will be treated in the future as evils on a par with racism, sexism, xenophobia, and religism (discrimination based on religion), only time will tell.

1996: Draft FAQ approved by the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly (NSA):

Roger Reini prepared a document which was approved for distribution by the U.S. NSA. He quoted from a number of earlier Baha'i writings. The FAQ says, in part:

Undated: A letter from a Baha'i counselor:

A Baha'i counselor, Wilma Ellis, has had published a letter to a non-Baha'i on the topic of homosexuality. She states, in part:

It is probably safe to assume that, in her reference to "extra-marital," Ellis is referring to opposite-sex marriage. That is, if two persons meet, date, date exclusively, get engaged, get married, and engage in sexual acts together, that a Baha'i spouse would be subject to Baha'i sanctions if their partner were of the same gender, but not if they were of the opposite gender.

Additional quotes:

Jonah Winters has scanned and proofread a group of Baha'i writings on homosexuality prior to 1993. ₇

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Universal House of Justice, "The Baha'i Teachings on Homosexuality", Letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, 1995-SEP-11. Reprinted in "The American Baha'i," Qawl 152, 1995-NOV-23, P. 11. Available at: http://bahai-library.org/
2. The statement by the National Spiritual Assembly of the UK is available at: http://bahai-library.org/
3. "Statement on Homosexuality by National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United Kingdom," 1996-OCT, at: http://bahai-library.org/
4. Roger Reini, "Draft FAQ: The Bha'i Faith and homosexuality, A Compilation of Selections from the Baha'i Writings," 1996-JAN-13, at: http://bahai-library.org/
5. Qilma Ellis, "Eliminating prejudices," undated, at: http://www.bnasaa.org/
6. Posting to the Baha'i Rants message board by "pey" at: http://bahairants.com/change-is-a-law-of-nature-666.html
7. Jonah Winters, Ed., "Compilation from the Baha'i Writings on Homosexuality," at: http://bahai-library.com/

Copyright © 1996 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2009-DEC-16
Author: B.A. Robinson

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