That is presumably the current policy. It's not specified by Abdu'l-baha or Baha'u'llah, for the obvious reason that most Bahais lived in places without Spiritual Assemblies. So they don't even give the Assembly jurisdiction over marriages, as far as I know. I've been searching to see if Shoghi Effendi said the two witnesses had to be approved by an assembly: so far I haven't found anything.

I assume this policy would apply in any country where there is a functioning administration. Clearly the Bahais in Iran cannot get their witnesses approved by an Assembly, nor those in several other countries where there are no Bahai Assemblies.

The story is from the section “The Age of McCarthy,” when hysteria reigned in the U.S. regarding homosexuality, and gay witch-hunts were conducted by the government.:

“Panic about homosexuals in high places spread north to Canada, where the new 1952 immigration act explicitly barred homosexuals from entering the country. At the same time, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (the Mounties) established a special investigative unit called A-3 that concentrated exclusively on identifying and rooting out homosexuals in government jobs. Like their American counterparts, the A-3 investigators watched gay bars and public parks; they also recruited informers among gay men. The force soon had a list of 3,000 names, according to Canadian journalist John Sawatsky who investigated the Mounties' Security Service for his book, Men in the Shadows.

In one bizarre incident, Sawatsky writes, the A-3 unit attempted to plot groupings and gathering places of homosexuals on a map of the Canadian capital of Ottawa. Every area of the city with a concentration of homosexuals was identified and marked with a red dot. Soon, the map contained so many colored dots that it became an indecipherable mass of red ink. The investigators purchased another map – the largest one available. It, too, became a one {sic} great red smudge. Finally, a Mountie approached the Department of National Defence with a request that it fly over the city with high-resolution cameras in order to produce an even larger map. The Defence Department refused – it was experiencing a financial crunch at the time. At that point, the mapping of Ottawa's homosexuals came to an end.”

Out of the Past is a great book – a highly entertaining and informative read.

Barb

I have searched Ocean admittedly very superficially, but I found quickly at least one letter from the UHJ in 1985 which stated that the Assembly involved had to ascertain the permission of parents, approve of the witnesses, and issue the marriage certificate. It is also apparent from other references that they are responsible for ensuring that all civil and Baha'i legal requirements are met. Perhaps there is something more recent which contravenes this?

I suppose the question would be, what are the Baha'i legal requirements? In my hypothetical situation, the Assembly would be deciding that one of those requirements was not that one person be male, the other female, if same-sex marriage were legal in their jurisdiction.

Barb

This was certainly not the case with my Baha'i marriage, but perhaps they were just doing the customary things, without being required to do so?

This is most interesting, if this is the case, and casts quite a different light on the picture.

Barb

It'll be interesting, and I expect it will happen several times with varying outcomes before things settle down

In some local Baha'i community where same-sex marriage is legal, the LSA will be approached by a same-sex couple, at least one of whom is a Baha'i, who wish to marry. This couple will have fulfilled all the requirements of Baha'i marriage, including obtaining the permission of parents, at least some of whom may be Baha'is. The LSA will make a decision to quietly witness the marriage of this couple, with no trumpet or fanfare, and issue them a Baha'i marriage certificate. Then their NSA, and the UHJ will have to decide how to handle this event, and whether or not to sanction everyone involved – LSA members, parents or participants who are Baha'is. This is a prediction – the future will reveal its accuracy.