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A friend of mine runs a blog call Singing Garden. Below, she explains why she chose that name.
Something magical and seminal happened while I was living in Israel. Something I had to work for years to understand, myself, and which I have tried to describe to others many times with gnawing dissatisfaction. My words, which usually serve me so well, seem to fail in their limited capacity to distinguish such magic, such otherworldliness, such magnitude of scope, such divinity.
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Sean is a gay third generation Baha’i who has been with his partner for ten years. He kindly agreed to give an interview about his experiences to God Made the Rainbow. This is the third part of a three part interview. Read the first part here and the second part here.
What do it mean to lose your administrative rights as a Baha’i? What impact does that have on someone’s participation in their community?
To lose your Administrative Rights is quite a blow to a Baha’i. Although you are not shunned you cannot attend the 19 Day Feast (which serves as a spiritual, administrative, and social meeting once a Baha’i month), you cannot give to the Baha’i Fund, and you cannot take part in Baha’i elections for Baha’i Administrative bodies. People who loose their Administrative Rights can only attend Baha’i Holy Days. Ultimately most people who lose their Administrative Rights become estranged from their faith community.
The way the law is applied in various Baha’i communities concerning gays and lesbians varies. The interpretation can be as strict as losing your Administrative Rights for being “flagrantly” gay (interpret as being openly gay). The more mature communities just leave their gay members alone as long as they “keep it under the radar”, renounce gay relationships and live lonely celibate lives, or go through therapy and become magically straight!
An interesting fact is that back biting is considered an awful offense like arson, theft, etc., yet my entire Baha’i life I never witnessed anyone losing their Administrative Rights over it: most of the Baha’i world would have to collectively loose thier Administrative Rights if we were going to be playing this game of “Scarlet Letter”.
How do you see the Baha’i faith ultimately resolving the conflict between Baha’i law and homosexuality? Do you think there is an answer?
I believe the future for gays in the Baha’i Faith to be bright. Gays will ultimately will find a place in the Baha’i Faith as their straight Baha’i peers become less homophobic. Baha’i Administrative Bodies will have to re-examine how Baha’i law is applied to gay Baha’is in committed relationships. There will have to be a campaign to educate Baha’is on the harm of homophobia, that homophobia is indeed a form of prejudice that has to be eliminated. Gay Baha’i Gatherings similar to the Black Men’s Gatherings will have to be formed to bring solace to the GLBT Baha’i Community.
Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
This interview is part of a irregular segment called God Made the Rainbow, promoting inclusive spirituality. Subscribe to SarahMcCulloch.com via Email so you don’t miss future posts! (or via RSS!)
Sean is a gay third generation Baha’i who has been with his partner for ten years. He kindly agreed to give an interview about his experiences to God Made the Rainbow. This is the second part of a three part interview. Read the first part here.
Do you find meaning in Baha’i now? Has your practice changed since coming out?
I still consider myself a Baha’i. There is nothing similar to it out there, the very teaching of “Progressive Revelation” where each world religion is like a chapter of a book (Baha’i being the latest, but not last), our prophecies, and our teachings keep me bonded to the Baha’i Faith. When I came out, initially I was not less active in the city in which I resided; in fact I was elected to our Administrative Body a few years in a row as an openly gay person. As the years passed I was less comfortable sharing my faith with others who knew or asked about the Baha’i stance on homosexuality. How could I share in my faith that teaches those who are in a gay relationship will be spiritually handicapped in the next world? When I moved to the city I currently reside after meeting my partner (whom I have been with for nearly ten years), I contacted my local Baha’i community, and as luck would have it I would be elected to their Administrative Body as well.
My city happens to have the largest gay population per capita in the U.S., so those who would be attracted to the Baha’i Faith for its largely progressive beliefs would be equally turned off with the Baha’i Faith’s stance on homosexuality. I addressed my frustration with my fellow Baha’is in my community; some were understanding, others less so. Ultimately I became inactive in my religious community, seeing that there was no place for openly gay people. To be a gay Baha’i, one cannot be in a gay relationship, gay Baha’is have to deny themselves the basic human need to share their life with someone while their straight peers can lead full lives. It was a very depressing existence leading a double life to remain an active Baha’i. Although I do miss aspects of Baha’i community life, I found that I have to be true to myself.
Is there much of a gay Baha’i community anywhere, similar to the LGBT Christian and Jewish movements? If yes, do you and other LGBT Baha’is find it useful, and if not, do you think one will form?
There is no formal gay Baha’i community life anywhere, though gay Baha’is may meet up on an individual basis. The closest thing gay Baha’is have to a support group is called BNASSA (Baha’i Network on Aids, Sexuality, Addictions and Abuse). BNASSA is an officially sanctioned Baha’i Institute of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, and is supported by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. BNASSA’s name alone entails a large grouping of “issues”, a far cry from any kind of gay Baha’i support group or Gay Baha’i Gathering. Ultimately GLBT Baha’is will seek each other out and will form support groups or Gay Baha’i Gatherings as a way to bond and share their love for Baha’u'llah.
Black Men’s Gatherings were groups started by African-American Baha’i Men as a way to heal generations of wounds that were afflicted upon the Black Man, to bring them up spiritually as a group, to share their pain, their strengths, and a way to move forward in their communities and families. It is basically a spiritual renewal for them. I think that the GLBT Baha’is need something similar that is equally encouraged by the Baha’i Administration.
Read Part 1 here and Part 3 here.
This interview is part of a irregular segment called God Made the Rainbow, promoting inclusive spirituality. Subscribe to SarahMcCulloch.com via Email so you don’t miss future posts! (or via RSS!)
Sean is a gay third generation Baha’i who has been with his partner for ten years. He kindly agreed to give an interview about his experiences to God Made the Rainbow. This is the first part of a three part interview.
Tell us a little about your background.
I grew up in a very progressive Baha’i household. Both of my parents were active in the Peace Movement and psychedelic music scene in Baltimore, Maryland, and southern California in the late 1960s. I would not consider my parents “Hippies” since they didn’t fit the stereotype of tripping out, living in communes, and love-ins, but they were in pursuit of a new way of life in the turmoil of their generation. My parents knew there was a path that would unite all of mankind in making this a better world, and that path was the Baha’i Faith.
My older sister Erica and I were raised in a very gender neutral environment where my parents put the Baha’i teaching of “the equality of the genders” into practice. My parents thought they were raising a new generation of children, so it was not unusual for my sister and I to play with toys that were stereotypical for the opposite gender.
My parents were always gay friendly and it turns out they named me after a gay friend they had in the early 1970′s. Going through public school I was always harassed for being “different”, called “fag” on a daily basis; this onslaught brought on an undiagnosed depression through high school. My mom knew what I was going through and confronted teachers and principals throughout my time in public school. Around age eleven she asked me if I were in fact gay, and if so she would love me regardless. I thought it such a bold move for a mother to make, but I automatically denied it, my reasoning internally being that if I came out to my family I would be too comfortable and would slip up and come out by mistake at school.
I am glad I never came out until after graduating, there were some brave guys who came out when I was in high school and they were beat up so severely that they were hospitalized (mind you this was the early to mid 1990′s). When I did come out I timed it with the “Ellen” episode where she came out on national TV: my family and I watched the show together and I saw it as an opportunity to bring up the “coming out” discussion. Initially I came out as bisexual thinking it would be easier for my family to understand, but in all honesty it was a stupid idea and made it too confusing for them. They ultimately accepted me as gay.
My family’s acceptance was gradual, but gained momentum as I helped to educate them about the GLBT community. My parents later became active and revitalized their city’s dormant PFLAG [Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays] and are currently very active as gay rights activists in their city. I am very proud of my parents: they are a shining example of acceptance, and a gay child could not ask for a better family all together.
Read Part 2 here and Part 3 here.
This interview is part of a irregular segment called God Made the Rainbow, promoting inclusive spirituality. Subscribe to SarahMcCulloch.com via Email so you don’t miss future posts! (or via RSS!)
A couple of months ago, I left a comment asking for an interview with someone about their experiences of being LGBT and Baha’i at the Gay and Lesbian Baha’i Story Project. The administrator wrote me the following message which she gave me permission to edit for God Made the Rainbow. I was going to edit it to make it a proper entry, but I think the message is worth just republishing in full.
“Thanks for your interest. The situation, briefly, with Baha’is regarding being gay and Baha’i, is that the official Baha’i stance is that treating gays with prejudice and disdain is prohibited (though in reality there is a lot of prejudicial behavior and thinking among Baha’is, which is not punished). Putting one’s sexuality into practice, however, is criminalized for gays – it is against Baha’i law. When Baha’is discuss homosexuality, they often lump it together with arson, theft, murder – all of which are also against Baha’i law and have heavy penalties, including “burning” (for arson). Because there is as yet (thank God) no Baha’i State, with the ability to carry out extreme punishments, the current punishment for homosexual behavior (which is left up to the Universal House of Justice, the highest Baha’i governing body, whose membership is limited to males) consists of potential loss of administrative rights, or perhaps expulsion from the Faith. So it’s a bit of a paradox.
It is understandable that because homosexual behavior is criminalized, naturally Baha’is tend to have prejudicial attitudes about it, despite being told by Baha’i authorities that they should not treat gays with prejudice or disdain. So it’s the old hate the sin, not the sinner theme. Baha’is in general, in my experience, avoid discussing this topic. There are many Baha’is like myself who see the criminalization of homosexuality as contrary to the findings of science, and a strange violation of the Baha’i principle that science and religion must agree, and if they do not, then the religious position is superstition. Gay Baha’is who have chosen to make a life commitment to a same-sex partner and have married in a state or country where it is legal, have at least lost their Baha’i administrative rights – they cannot vote in Baha’i elections, attend Baha’i Feasts (the equivalent of Christian church – a regular devotional service for Baha’is, but where Baha’i business is also conducted), contribute to the Baha’i Fund, hold any office in the Faith, etc. Apologetic Baha’is will say that that is not discriminatory, because any Baha’i, gay or not, who is married without having a Baha’i marriage is subject to loss of administrative rights. Of course gays don’t have the option of a Baha’i marriage (unless they marry a partner of the opposite sex)….and in my experience, straight Baha’is who marry without a Baha’i marriage are often not punished – they are just ignored.
Baha’i teaching considers homosexuality to be a distortion of human nature, and spiritually condemned. Some Baha’is are working to bring a more enlightened view regarding homosexuality to the Baha’i “powers-that-be.” I would not hold my breath waiting for change any time soon, however. Baha’i authorities are quite adamant that their view regarding homosexuality will not change, cannot change.
ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention that the official Baha’i position on homosexuality holds that with the help of a competent physician and prayer and effort, you can “pray the gay away.”
Your project sounds interesting – good luck with it!
Barb”
Visit the Gay and Lesbian Baha’i Story Project.
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I’ve just uploaded a new article to my main website, called “Trans and Judaism: Inclusion from the Perspective of Several Jewish Movements“. I wrote it for a piece of coursework I have to do last year on an aspect of religions, culture and gender. I started off by dealing with Judaism’s attitudes to trans, bisexuality and conversion but as my word count mounted it became steadily more obvious that I wasn’t going to get it all in.
If any Jewish folks out there would like to write for God Made the Rainbow on their experiences as a minority within a minority, on whatever subject, I would like to hear from you. :)
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God Made the Rainbow is a segment promoting an inclusive spirituality for all. For other articles, visit God Made the Rainbow here.
Sikhism as a religion was founded about 500 years ago, and as such, it is one of the youngest of the world religions. The religion originates from the northern region of the Indian Subcontinent known as Punjab, a region now shared between India and Pakistan. The founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak, was born in 1469, and the last of the 10 living Gurus, Guru Gobind Singh, died in 1708. The Sikh scriptures are contained in a volume known as the Guru Granth Sahib, and it consists of the teachings of contemporary Hindu and Muslim saints as well as those of the Sikh gurus. The Guru Granth Sahib is a Guru in its own right and it is accorded the same level of respect amongst Sikhs as that given to the living Gurus.
Sikhism believes in tolerance, equality and acceptance of all people, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexuality. Sexuality is deemed to be something which is part of the natural human state. However, excessive sexual desire is referred to within Sikhism as ‘lust’ or ‘Kaam’, and Kaam forms one of the Five Thieves of Sikhism (the Sikh equivalent of the Seven Deadly Sins in Christianity). Kaam is seen to be a destructive force and one which needs to be overcome. Sex outside of marriage is discouraged within Sikhism, although no reference is made to that within the Guru Granth Sahib. Furthermore, the Guru Granth Sahib makes no specific reference to homosexuality, although it considers all of nature to have been created by God’s grace. As the scientific world has now come to accept that homosexuality can be found in the natural world, and Sikhism accepts science as being compatible with the faith, it is possible to argue that Sikhism is accepting of homosexuality.
One of the corner-stones of Guru Nanak’s teachings was that of ‘Grishti Jeevan’, or ‘living the life of the householder’, and life within a family unit is highly encouraged, as is marriage. A monogamous relationship within marriage is seen as the Sikh ideal. The Sikh marriage ceremony is comprised of a hymn of 4 verses known as the ‘Laavan’. Each verse is read aloud, and the couple walk around the Guru Granth Sahib whilst the verse is repeated in song. At the end of the fourth verse and circumambulation, the couple are married. The four verses of the Lavaan are non-gender specific. The only references made to gender are of the two human souls of the people entering the marriage as being the bride and God as being the bridegroom, and so the use of gender within the Lavaan is solely metaphorical. Although the Lavaan was composed over 400 years ago, the practice of Sikh marriage by following the Lavaan was only institutionalized in 1909 when the Anand Marriage Act of India legalised the ceremony. Prior to that, the Hindu ceremony of circumambulation of a fire was the only legally recognized marriage ceremony for Sikhs in India.
It would be wrong to assume that the Guru Granth Sahib has failed to mention homosexuality due to the ignorance of the Sikh Gurus to such activity. Islam was well-established in Punjab by the time that Guru Nanak was born, and the Quran makes explicit reference to homosexual activity. In fact, there were openly-homosexual and well-known holy men in the Indian Subcontinent at the time that the Guru Granth Sahib was being compiled. The fact that the Gurus did not discuss homosexuality in the Sikh scriptures suggests that such issues were inconsequential in a spiritual belief system where a direct relationship with God is paramount and that Kaam is a destructive force to all people, regardless of sexuality.
As the Laavan are non-gender specific, it is theoretically possible to have a same-sex marriage within the Sikh religion. There have been a number of edicts in recent years by the Jathedar (Head Priest) of the Akal Takht (the temporal base for the Sikh religion in Amritsar) which have prohibited the consecration of same-sex marriages in Sikh places of worship, but there is a long history of such edicts being ignored by the Sikh community in India and globally. It should be noted that the Sikh religion does not believe in a priesthood system due to the emphasis on a direct relationship with God in the absence of any interceder. Another interesting thing to note is the fact that the Jathedar has felt it necessary to make such an edict in the first place – if the Laavan were gender specific and if homosexuality was prohibited outright by Guru Granth Sahib, such edict would be pointless.
Although Sikhism is a liberal religion, Punjabi culture is extremely conservative. This has lead to instances where some Sikhs hold conservative views which stem from Punjabi culture but which the individual has come to believe to be a part of Sikhism. An area where this disparity is evident is that of sexuality, with Punjabi culture being very homophobic whilst Sikhism believes in tolerance of all people. Gristhi Jeevan, or living the life of a householder, applies equally to same-sex relationships as it does to heterosexual relationships. There are no barriers to maintaining a family lifestyle within a same-sex relationship, for example, by adopting children. Same-sex marriages are possible within Sikhism, but due to the possible reluctance of Sikh places of worship in consecrating such a marriage, a monogamous relationship is to be preferred as an alternative.
If you would like to find out more about Sikhism and its approach to homosexuality, as well explore the dichotomy between the Sikh religion and Punjabi culture, please feel free to visit Sarbat – the online resource for LGBT Sikhs.
Jay Singh is the moderator of Sarbat.net.
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