I am disappointed in the outcome, but not surprised since the disciplinary process has been entirely opaque and inequitable from the get-go... Fortun… - Kate Kelly

You know what else I'm sick and tired of? I'm sick and tired of men making laws about our bodies and our choices and our lives without consulting us.

I couldn’t really read all the words because I was crying and sobbing, but my eyes focused on, 'We have chosen to excommunicate you.' I guess I'm a delusional optimist because to the end I thought they would do the right thing.... It's not that I won't abandon my cause. I can't. The church that has excommunicated me has taught me to live with integrity... They're asking me to go to church every Sunday and pretend I don't think there are problems with gender equality... I think it's a hideously painful blow to any woman has ever looked around her and recognized the plain and simple truth that men and women are not equal in our church.

On Sunday, I will be tried in absentia for apostasy by the leaders of my former congregation in the Mormon church... for the simple act of opening my mouth and starting a conversation about gender equality in the church and the deep roots of this institutional inequality. My grave situation is another example of how silencing women has long been a top communications priority for patriarchical institutions, both literally and figuratively. In the Mormon church, all positions of authority and leadership require ordination to the priesthood – and no women can be ordained, though the vast majority of male members, age 12 and up, are. This means that no women can lead any official rites and ceremonies, despite the fact that there is no specific Mormon church doctrine explaining why women are not ordained...