********************BY COMMON CONSENT********************VOLUME8, NO. 2

APRIL CONFERENCE CRITIQUESo the Olympics are history‐nearty all of it

good for Salt Lake City and the Church, MittRomney‘ is roaring down the gubematoriolcampaign road in Massachusetts, Sheri Dewjust became the first woman CEO of a Churchcorporation, Rob Foster became the first Af‑rican American elected as BYU's studentbodypresident, and it‘s turnover time for the ReliefSociety general presidency. Sowhat will Aprilconference bring? '

The semiannual conference critique willexplore trends and topics that emerge fromApril conference on Monday,April 8,2002, from6:30 to 8:30 p m . at the main librarydowntown[209 E.500 South). We will be gathering in thestudy r o om just east of the second floor meet‑ing room ‐ the usual site. Janice Allred will leadthis freewheeling and insightful exchange.

The best parking isstill on the southa n deastsides of the block and across the street on theCity-County Building block. We apologizeabout the tight parking. We investigatedswitching to another library until the construc‑tion iscompleted on the library block, but all ofthem have a children's story hour on Mondayevening, and the main library isone of the fewwith more than one meeting room. So, in theinterests of following up promptly on confer‑encewhile the talks are still fresh in everybody‘smind.we decided to grit o u r teeth a n d comea few minutesearly to deal with the parking.

‘Although incumbent Jane Swift exited from the race,shed i d Iton a g o o dquip:“Romneywasn't sure he was goingto run for governor because of the Massachusetts drought:‘Hishandlerswere concernedthat therewouldn't be enough

MARCH 2002

water for him to walk on . ” [Ellen Goodman ] "GangwaylWhiteKnight' RomneylsBack,“DeseretNews,22March2002.A-l3.)

WWEBS OFSIGNIFICANCE

How do Mormon women understand theirexperience in LDSreligiousculture?Thiswas thequestion explored at thewinterquarterlymeet‑ing of the Mormon Alliance in a discussion ledby Becky Johns, Ph.D., a specialist in rhetoricand an assistant professor at Weber StateUniversity, with the assistance of one of herstudents, Gracia Reamer.

They hadjust completed a first-ever coursecalled "Women and the LDS Church, " team‑taught with Sandra Powell, director of theWomen's Studies programat Weber State, andwere reporting on perceptions and experi»ences that emerged during the course. Theytook as their motto a statement by CliffordGeer‘tz. "Human beings a r e animals suspendedin webs of significance they themselves havespun“ (recast for gender-inclusiveness).

First, and probably most important,womenare tamished for opportunities to explore theirexperiences because there are so few sateplaces for reflection in the culture. ‘We weresurprised at the range of questions that womenbrought to class," commented Beckyr "Theol»ogy,doct r ine, history,policiesandprocedures‑y o u n am e it. Many of them lay outside thescope of the class, a n dwe often couldn't evencome close to answering them. But over andove r t they said things like. ‘l 've hadthis questionfor years and I've never been able to talkabout i t } Or ‘l've never told anybody l feel this

way ‐no t my mother, my sister, my husband, mybest friend. . .

Second‐and this observation 'is really theflip side at the first"‐is "how unsafe LDS womenfeel in talking honestly. There's a sense of dan‑ger, of risk‐~that asking questions or thinkingthrough a problemsystematically ishazardous,whether that means a sense of spiritual risk orthe possibility of social disapproval." Beckyreported that some potential students shiedaway from the course title and that a fewstudents did, in fact. stop coming. "Part of itmay have been that the readings a n d courserequirementswere quite rigorous,"she acknowl‑edged, "but I think that some peoplewho weregenuinely interested in the top ic were alsogenuinely nervous about it.“

Becky was quite startled, when she broughtup the topic in herdepartment (thecoursewascross‐listed in communications and women'sstudies) to find fellow faculty members express‑ing anxiety about her safety. "Are y o u going toge t excommunicated for teaching this class?"one colleague asked her bluntlyr It was justanother reminder of how fraught with tensionthe topic of women's issues has become in theChurch.

The third observation drawn from the classwas the genuine respect a n d careful listeningthat the women extended to each other.“Creating a safe zone was one of ou r goals forthe class. a n d that meant respecting a n dworking to understand very divergent posi‑tions," Becky pointed out The class was smalla n d membership was fairty fluid; "studentsstarted bringing theirfriends, orsomeonewouldhear that we were going to discuss a certaintopic and ask to at tend," The students attend‑ing represented a wide r a n g eof diversity‐froma recently temple-married woman pregnantwith twins to current butmarginalizedMormons,to former Mormons, a n d to women of otherfaiths who were curious to find out more aboutMormonwomen's lives.Gracia,who isalso part‑time staff at the Women's Studies Center, hasbelonged to orattendedseveralchurches a n dfrequently brought a mum-religious dimensionto the discussions.

Having an academic vocabulary withwhich to discuss issues of faith and doctrine

also h a d the unexpected benefit of providinga "common language"thatwas notassociatedwith eithera requirement to defend the faith orto proselytize.

Questions from the audience also drew thediscussion into the broader topic of women'sstudies in general‐ the perennial topic of whywomen "need"classes on women's issueswhenthere aren't classes on men's issues [and howsuch an attitude points up the "general oblivi‑ousness" of the privileged vs. the marginalized]a n d the difficulty of finding academicallyrigorous ways of dealing with topics that arefrequently dismissed as "soft" or "gossipy."

Will the class be taught again? At this pointit depends on registration which, despite thelarge number of Walk-ins," hovered perilouslyclose to the cut‐off line. "Some people mightinterpret the enrollment statistics as the topic'slack of relevance," observed Becky. “I thinkwhat it really shows isthe level of anxiety asso‑ciatedwith this topic a n d ] therefore, the acuteneed for it.“

Before starting the class, Becky checkedwith Brigham Young University, Utah ValleyState College. a n d the Universityof Utahaboutsimilar classes on this topic. No other school iscurrently offeringsucha course, althoughVellaNeil Evans at the University of Utah taught"Women in Mormon Culture" on LDS women'sdiscourse a n d issues during the 19905, assistedby Maxine Hanks.

Becky distributed copies of the read ing listthat she a n d Sandra organized for the class,which also generated lively questions fromparticipants in the evening's discussion.

READING LISTln1roductionLynn Matthews Anderson and Molly Bennion “Mormon

Women in the Twenty-first Century“ Sunslone Sympo~sium, Augusl 200i, oudiocassette

the Experiences/Vales: at Mormon womanLinda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon

Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, Prophet’s Mfe, “ElectLady,"Polygamy’sfoe [GardenCity:Doubleday,t 984),Xl-Xl'i, 296-309.

MaureenUrsenbachBeecher, “TheElizaEnigma:The LifeandLegend of Eiiza R. Snow,“ in Vicky Burgess-Olson, ed.,Sister Saints (Salt Lake City: Burgessolson, l974), L20.

“Historic Mormon Feminist Discourseecherpts,“ MaxineHanks, e d , Women and Mormonism: Re-emergingMormon Feminism (Sall Lake City: Signature Books,

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Indians in the western hemisphere. Which ofthese tribes are descendants of the Lamanitesa n d which a r e not? How c a n a person tell aLamanite Indianfrom a nan-Lamanite Indian?

8. Will all of those who die and are resur‑rected receive salvation?

9. is it possible for children under eighteenyears of a g e to know which of the world’sreligions are true and which a re not? Isit possi‑ble for adults to makethe samedetermination?

to. Where isa documented list of all of theprophecies made by the Prophet JosephSmith?

I I. Should a church that abuses its womenandchildren be allowed to call itself a Christianreligion?

The questions could go on and on butwhere are the answers?

NEWS 'N' VIEWS[Family Reporter: Official Newsletter of

United Families lntemational is an LDS NGOthat lobbies the United Nations and othergovernment entities for legislation in keepingwith "The Family: A Proclamation to the World.This item appeared in Vol. 6,no. I (first quarter2002): 6.]

Californla Passes Gay Rights legislationOn the day after September I l th ,while the

world was looking elsewhere, the CaliforniaLegislature passed AB 25 which confers l3marital rights and benefits on homosexual”domestic partners." This happened in spite ofthe fact that last year, California voters a p ‑proved Proposition22, the Defenseof MarriageInitiative, by 61 percent.

California Governor Gray Davis after sign‑ing the bill into law sta ted, "This bill i s aboutresponsibility, respect, and most of all aboutfami ly ‐and it's about time." Several Californiasenators have made it clear they will not stopuntil gay marriage is legalized in the state. Thepassage of AB25 isthe first step. UFl of NorthernCalifornia has their [sic] work cut out for them.

"A Work of Fiction"CALIFORNIA CATHOLICS lAUNCH"NATURAL MARRIAGE" INITIATIVE

Terry Redd(San Diego.) Emboldened by the over‑

whelming passage of Proposition 22this week.Catholic leaders here haveannounceda newinitiative they term the Defense of NaturalMarriage Initiative. The measure would refuselegal recognition to any marriage in whicheitherpartner isan ordained priest.

Father Joseph Silvera of the San DiegoDiocese announced , “While same-sex mar‑riages a r e repugnant to our shared notion ofthe sacrament of marriage, other apparentlyben ign social arrangements masquerading asmarriageareevenmore insidious.Among theseisa n y union in which one member isa priest."Sucha marriagehe termed"unnatural.""Priestlycelibacy has been a cherished tenet of ourculture for nearly twenty centuries," added theunmarried Silvera.

The text of the proposed initiative, basedclosely on Proposition22, reads:"Onlymarriagebetween an unordained man and an unor‑dainedwoman isvalid or recognizedinCalifor‑DIG."

Proponents of the Natural Marriage Initia‑tive predict that the 2000 census will show amassive increase in the number of Latinos inCalifornia.They believe that a combination ofLatinos‐whoa re overwhelmingly Catholic‐andnon-Latino Catholics now form a majority ofCalifornia voters.

Announcement of the Natural MarriageInitiative has raised concern among somemembers of the Mormon Chu rch , which wasinstrumental in the passage of Proposition 22.UniqueamongChristian churches, the MormonChurch isoperated by a "lay clergy" in whichvirtually all adult Mormon males are ordainedpriests and perform sacred rites and otherecclesiastical duties. The initiative would invali‑date all marriages in which the husband isMormon.

when asked about the application of theinitiative to non ‐Cathol ics, Father Silvera citedProposition 22 and stated that the applicationof a n y law isnot limited to those who share theviewpoint of its proponents. "The reterence tounordained women was included to make thiscrystal clear." stated Silvera. “Catholics obvi‑ously do not orda in w o m e n , b u t this wou ldapply to women ordained in the Episcopal.Mormon, NewAge or any other church."

Announcement of the initiative appearedto catch Mormon Church leaders off guard.Roger Bodily, a married Mormon priest a n dchurch spokesman, stated, "Obviously, we didnot see this coming. It's a real revelation."According to Bodily, the Mormon Church "hasconsistently opposed any attempt by a n ychurch or group of churches to impose theirprivate beliefs about marriage or anything elseon those who do not share those beliefs."

Silvero responded that the initiative ad ‑dressed "a moral issue on which we cannotremain silent and watch California go the wayof Sodom and Gomorrah." Some Catholicsseem to agree.Maria Nunez, a married Catho‑lic, s ta ted, "The thought of a priest having sexwith another person, especially a woman. is,well, disgusting. It‘s an offense to God. Whyshould the State have all these laws that saythis isokay when we all know it's unnatural?"

Bodily denied that Mormon marriages are"unnatural" and contended that his churchdiscourages unnatural acts even betweenspouses. Bodily speculated that the initiative'seffects could be sweeping, rendering childrenof Mormon parents illegitimate and permittinghealth care providers to deny coverage to theoften sizable families of Mormon employees.

When asked about this possibility, EmmetLonsdaleof the Sacramento‐based CaliforniaAssociationof InsuranceExecutives anticipatedthat his g roup would actively support theinitiative. "Our organization has always tried tocome out strong for traditional morality," hestated. He insistedthat the fact that membersof

MORMONALLIANCE1519 ROBERTASTREETSALT LAKE CITY, UT84115

his association "could savemillions itnot billionsin maternity benefits alone“would play no partin their decision whether to support the initia‑t ive,

Initiative backers deny that the measurewould unfairly discriminate against Mormonmen and other married priests. Silvera quotedfrom a leaflet distributed at a Mormon chapelin Poway, California, the previous Sunday. Theleaflet stated that the legal rights of unmarriedcohabitants are "fully protected by California'snew Domestic Partnership Act and HospitalVisitation Act."

When asked whether initiative proponentswere concerned about Mormon opposition,Father Silvera described Califomia‘s 800.000Mormons,most of whom are not of voting age ,as "a blip here and a blip there. Besides," henoted,'Weexpect theiropposition to be largelycounterbalanced by the support ofCalifornia'sgay and lesbian community," many of whomwere disheartened by energetic Mormonelectioneering for Proposition 22. {Electionofficials estimate that although Mormons ac ‑count for less than 10%of the populationof thestate, they posted 80% of pro-Proposition 22yard signs.)

Robert Gui ldfoi l , head of the San Fran<cisco-basedGay and Lesbians for EqualRights,confirmed Silvera's assessment, stating that hewould expect gays and lesbians to flock to thepolls ‘Vvith their families" for a chance to turnthe tables on their Mormon antagonists. "WeloveMormons.They a r e g o o d people."he said."But for us, this is a moral issue."