Dear Anonymous...

 

Case in point… over on [Revoked] a new comment was just posted on one of the original posts from 2009: “Lets start with consulting about a letter”. The author is Anonymous, and I am left to wonder… is it the same Anonymous, or another one, but I digress…

 

Here is his/her comment dated December 1, 2023:

“A beautiful letter which is most fair and explaining that the decision to join the Faith must be made with the knowledge that there are certain laws which must be upheld in both word and deed. But also making it clear that one cannot be in a same sex relationship or marriage and be a member of the Baha’i Community. But that the choice is up to the individuals, and it can only be to obey the Baha’i laws or not to obey and thus not to join the Faith.”

The beautiful letter thing… it comes around frequently, and creeps me out to no end. Especially with the Anonymous need to school us LGBTQI folk, as if we have never read any Baha’i law, but thanks to them they will teach me, again. At any rate we can ignore the arrogance and cruelty, seems like state sanctioned, homophobia. Let me try and explain.

Anonymous’ opinion reminds me of stories Helen Bishop used to talk about when she shared stories of her years in the League of Nations during WWII and her encounter with Nazis. She used to share truly blood curdling tales of how polite and civil the officers who met with her (she had diplomatic immunity). Anonymous comments like this, sort of remind me of this civil cruel, cold. A beautiful letter.

So, I am curious, why don’t Anonymous Baha’i law-abiding homophobes ever begin with, well equally beautiful responses like:

“I am truly sorry, I know you have reviewed the laws, but please allow me to school you once again, because as a homosexual you obviously find it hard to understand that we do not want you here. I truly wish we could welcome you, but we don’t want to. Unlike other regions who might welcome you, and your partner/husband/wife, we don’t. Unfortunately, for you, but good for us, the law allows us to exclude you from our community. In fact, you aren’t even allowed to speak openly in any forum, meeting, or community consultation about this. Baha’i laws encourage heterosexual Baha’is that only law-abiding heterosexuals are allowed to talk about your homosexuality. Again, we are so very sorry, you seem like a nice person, but the Baha’i community doesn’t want you. Nor do I”

There fixed it.