On April 5, 2014 the Church PR department responded to the April Priesthood Action in a statement made to the Deseret News. Shortly after, Ordain Women released the following statement to the press.
Five hundred and ten women and men of the group Ordain Women lined up outside the LDS Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah to respectfully request standby tickets to the male-only priesthood session of General Conference. Wrapped around the historic Tabernacle, this group represented a significant increase over the 200 supporters who requested standby tickets to the last priesthood session in October 2013. An additional 407 supporters who could not attend in person submitted their names to be carried in the line by proxy, bringing the total number of participants to 917.
Ordain Women supporters walked as a group from City Creek Park to Temple Square, where they entered the east gate and joined the standby line. Each supporter reverently and respectfully requested a standby ticket from a Church PR employee, who rejected these requests one by one. The supporters willingly left Temple Square after they were turned away.
“Our efforts are a plea for inclusion,” Kate Kelly, founder of Ordain Women, said. “We are pleased to have created an opportunity for faithful Mormon women and men to publicly express their support for fully integrating women into the priesthood structure of the Church. Our rapidly growing numbers indicate that this is a conversation many Mormons want and need to have.”
Ordain Women is committed to continuing the dialogue on gender inequality in the Church through in-person, faith-affirming direct action.