SALT LAKE CITY — Mormon women seeking tickets to the faith’s general priesthood session in April will not only be denied access to the all-male meeting but also may be shut out of Salt Lake City’s historic Temple Square altogether.
On March 17, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) formally rebuffed Ordain Women’s second push for entrance to the priesthood session and urged the grass-roots group to “demonstrate” instead in “free-speech zones adjacent to Temple Square, which have long been established for those wishing to voice differing viewpoints.”
LDS officials also are barring news media cameras from the square during their two-day general conference, which the church said is “consistent with long-standing policy.”
Church spokeswoman Jessica Moody wrote a letter March 17 to the group’s organizers inviting women to “view the live broadcast of the priesthood session on lds.org, the Mormon Channel or BYUtv.” In fall 2013, the LDS Church broadcast the all-male meeting live for the first time.
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