--
Modern Mormon women who see the skirts-only convention at LDS chapels to be evidence of outdated and discouraging stereotypes ... proposed the "Wear Pants to Church Day " and posted an announcement on Facebook. The event is intended as the first act of All Enlist, a group dedicated to gender equality in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We do not seek to eradicate the differences between women and men, but we do want the LDS Church to acknowledge the similarities," the group's mission statement says. "We believe that much of the cultural, structural, and even doctrinal inequality that persists in the LDS Church today stems from the church's reliance on — and enforcement of — rigid gender roles that bear no relationship to reality ."
Within hours, the page had hundreds of commitments to participate, and even more hostile comments.
Critics questioned the organizers' motives, their spirituality , their loyalty to the faith. A second group posted its own, opposing event: "Wear Skirts to Church Day ."
Critics questioned the organizers' motives, their spirituality , their loyalty to the faith. A second group posted its own, opposing event: "Wear Skirts to Church Day ."
The pants idea came to Stephanie Lauritzen when she was on the phone with her sister, while perusing sales racks at Target. She wondered aloud what simple act could bring attention to the LDS Church's gender inequality .
Lauritzen and other "Pants Day " organizers did not see their plan as a protest, rally or political statement, but merely an attempt to "make the church better."
This weekend's "Pants Day " isn't limited to women. The group is encouraging men to show support by "wearing a purple shirt, tie, socks, or ribbon, purple being a color historically associated with the suffrage movement."
In response, some LDS men are now asking: When is No Neckties Day ?
