UPDATE 9/24/2013 This action will still continue as planned. Press Release can be found here.
Please RSVP on Facebook if you’d like to join with us! We’d like to get an accurate head-count, so please only RSVP if you are able to commit to attending with us on October 5th in Salt Lake. Leave a comment on the Facebook page if you’d like to express solidarity!
If you’d like to RSVP privately (off FB), please email info [at] ordainwomen.org.
On Saturday, October 5th, 2013, at 4:00 p.m. we are going to meet at City Creek Park (110 N State Street Salt Lake City, Utah) and walk over the the Conference Center together. We will stand as a group of women, and male allies in the standby line in order to gain admittance to the Priesthood Session of the 183rd Semiannual General Conference of the Church. If we are admitted, we will celebrate this historical achievement by attending the Priesthood Session together.After we leave Priesthood session, we will reconvene at City Creek Park to speak to the public, including representatives of the media, about our experiences either attending Priesthood Session or being barred from attending. At this meeting, Ordain Women will make a public statement continuing our unequivocal call for complete equality and the ordination of Mormon women.
Currently, in addition to priesthood holders, “prospective elders” are allowed to attend the Priesthood Session of General Conference, but no women are permitted to attend. That means men who are not even members of the church are allowed in, but even our beloved Prophet’s wife Frances B. Monson was barred from entry. “As a newly called member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the then Elder Monson was assigned to speak in general priesthood meeting. Frances tried to stand in the doorway of the Salt Lake Tabernacle to listen to her husband speak, but the ushers wouldn’t allow it, so she stood as near to the window as possible to hear the talk.”We are attending this Priesthood Session because we see ourselves as prospective elders. We hope that when our leaders see us in the audience with priesthood holders and other prospective elders, they will consider the untapped potential of the millions of female members within the church and prayerfully consider the ordination of women.Join us for this historic demonstration of our commitment to equality within the church!
GROUND RULES
This event is specifically for people genuinely invested in the Mormon community.-We are a faith based group of Mormons and as such will not tolerate anti-church diatribes.
- We will not carry any signs or banners.
- We ask that you come dressed in your Sunday best as if you were attending any other session of General Conference.
- We will not use any deceitful tactics to get into the Priesthood Session. As such, we encourage women to directly ask their local leaders for tickets to the session, but not to get them from anyone who does not specifically know why they are being requested.