I’m a lifelong Utah resident, an avid skier and a piano enthusiast. I’m currently studying English at the University of Utah, where I write for the student newspaper and perform with the slam poetry team. I was raised in an active and loving LDS home by the goodliest of parents, who supported me as the Mia Maid president and the youngest organist my ward has ever had!
For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with the Church’s gender policies. The knowledge that I would never hold the priesthood, no matter how worthily I lived, filled my teenage years with painful doubts about my both my temporal leadership capabilities and my eternal divine nature. I felt that I was a less valued leader than my male counterparts; that my spirituality was less vital to the Church’s structural health. Although I was told that the power of motherhood was equally important to the power of the priesthood, I had no desire to bear or raise children. I began to wonder: if my worth as a woman was defined by things I had no interest in, was I worth anything at all?
Although I am no longer active in the Church, I am hugely invested in the ordination of women to the priesthood. I do not want the next generation of Mormon girls to grow up feeling like I did. By ordaining women, we value all of their talents and consecrate each of their sacred ambitions. We affirm their divinity by allowing them to channel God’s power here on earth. By ordaining women, we uphold the cherished values of divine nature and individual worth — values no young woman should ever doubt.
I believe women should be ordained.