In celebration of Ordain Women’s fifth anniversary, we sponsored a panel at the 2018 Sunstone Symposium in Salt Lake City titled “Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Many Voices of Ordain Women.” As we look to the future and a new organizational structure that emphasizes both individual and collective, local and global activism on women’s ordination and gender equality in the Church, the panel not only drew on the past to inform a discussion of our initiatives going forward but also featured the thoughts and experiences of a number of OW executive board members and supporters who share the common vision of a more equitable religious community. The following was presented by OW profile holder and supporter, Lori LeVar Pierce.
Four days before I turned twelve and moved from Primary to the Young Women’s Organization, there was a tectonic shift in the LDS Church when black men again were allowed to be ordained to the priesthood. As a child living in Arkansas, I didn’t know any black members of the Church and was unaware of the wider social calls for change or all the nuanced differences between this and the possibility of women being ordained. All I knew then was that something major had changed. Having lived my entire life in the US south and being part of a southern family whose roots literally go back all the way to Jamestown, I was well aware of the social attitudes about blacks and whites and had been taught all of the doctrinal arguments that favored denying priesthood and temple blessings to black members. And then… it changed.
My dad was the first branch president of a small branch in my hometown that was created when I was 10. I watched him on some Sundays conduct the sacrament meeting, say both prayers, and bless and pass the sacrament, as he was often the only priesthood holder in attendance. I looked forward to taking on some of those responsibilities myself. As we discussed ordination for women, my dad always said that the scriptural justifications for denying women the priesthood were just as flimsy as the ones that had been used to deny the priesthood to black men. And those rationales, once taught as doctrine, are now disavowed as incorrect speculation.
I had hope. Lots of hope. But I also knew realistically that women’s ordination wasn’t likely to happen quickly. I mostly pushed it to the back of my mind, went on with my life, and found lots of other things to focus on. Sometimes I prayed that it would happen more quickly. Sometimes I was able to find a like-minded someone, and we would have a discussion about it. Mostly, however, I just waited.
And then Ordain Women came along. My profile was one of the very early ones on the site when planning for the October 2013 priesthood action was happening. I had grown up with negative ideas about protestors and wasn’t anxious to be one, but I felt very drawn to this particular event. I eventually bought a plane ticket to fly from Columbus, Mississippi, to Salt Lake City for just 24 hours to participate in the October 2013 action. Flying alone all that distance to meet a group of people I had never met in person ended up being a very spiritual experience for me, as it was for so many others who participated that October.
I was then in a Relief Society presidency, and two days before I got on the plane, I told them what I was planning to do. They didn’t understand but listened as I explained my reasons. On my way out of the building, my bishop stopped me to tell me that he had read the things I had posted on Facebook, supported my actions in going to SLC, and hoped that our group was effective in changing attitudes. Later, his attitude changed. Though he was open to the idea of ordaining women, he was against “protests by members against the brethren.” The LDS Church Public Affair’s descriptions of Ordain Women had effectively convinced him that my personal accounts of OW actions weren’t true.
Since October of 2013, I have sometimes participated and sometimes stayed more in the background of Ordain Women. While I felt a strong spiritual calling to participate in what happened in 2013, I haven’t felt that same spiritual pull for personal involvement each time. Most of my advocacy happens at the personal level. I have lots and lots and lots of conversations with LDS members. One close family friend, who was a temple president, called me to repentance when he first heard about my involvement with Ordain Women. However, we spent time over several visits discussing it in his office in the temple and through letters, and I found his position softening a great deal.
There is a quote from Brené Brown that says, “It is hard to hate people close up. Move in.” So, that’s what I’ve done in my ward, in my family, and with my church friends. I have moved closer. I have discovered that usually in these in-person—or even on Facebook—discussion moments when a real discussion is happening, we come to at least some agreement. Usually, it comes down to agreeing that women getting the priesthood would be fine, but some don’t want to agitate for it.
It wasn’t very many years ago that I was reprimanded and the bishopric came into Relief Society to “correct” me when I discussed the details of women giving blessings of healing in the early days of the Church—facts that are now available to review in the Church’s Gospel Library App. More recently, I had an amazing discussion in Relief Society with the wife of a member of my stake presidency, my bishop’s wife, and the Relief Society president about women giving blessings, both by faith and with the possibility of priesthood ordination. They were listening and agreeing with me. This is not to say that the road is easy or that everyone agrees with me, but I have found more agreement than disagreement overall.
As a child and young woman, I was always the only Mormon in my schools. My church leaders taught me that it was a good thing to be peculiar—that it didn’t matter if I had beliefs that no one else shared. It didn’t matter if I stood alone. That same training serves me well as a supporter of Ordain Women inside the LDS Church. My church taught me to stand up for what I believe—even if that belief goes against the crowd. I believe women should be ordained.
You can listen to the Sunstone presentation:
Stream here or download. For access to more of Sunstone’s 2018 Symposium, visit their website.