A little over two years ago, in an attempt to stifle my contributions to the Mormon women’s ordination movement, my stake president required me to remove 11 posts from this website, using my temple recommend as leverage. He refused to renew my temple recommend if I did not comply, thus barring me from an upcoming family wedding. It was the first and only time a priesthood leader has attempted to censor this blog. Under duress, I agreed not to replace the censored posts as long as his signature remained valid on my temple recommend.

My temple recommend with strings attached recently expired, releasing me from the binds of this devil’s bargain. I am relieved to report to you that this website is now restored to its uncensored state. Let me reintroduce you to the 11 posts that were missing for the last two years.

The Censored Posts I Missed Most

Often, blogging is like sketching, with a thought or an experience shared quickly. However, other blog posts, such as these three, are the products of long-term research, analysis and scripture study. I consider these articles to be among my best work. If you only have time to read one censored post, choose one of these.

Ordination Is the Answer to Correlation July 18, 2013

How could the church could enjoy the benefits of correlation with fewer side effects for women? Here is my answer. I discuss other aspects of the correlation question in this article: How Mormon Women Were Correlated Out of LDS Church Finances

Confirming Our Hope: Women and Priesthood November 21, 2013

Of all my censored posts, this is the only one, as far as I know, that my stake president actually read. (He hated it.) This post contains text and graphics from my first speech to the Counterpoint Conference of the Mormon Women’s Forum. It was an honor to be invited to speak to these experienced Mormon feminist activists and scholars, women who have been working for the cause since I was a child. At one point, they burst into laughter when I quoted a church leader talking about the lack of agitation from Mormon women in the 1990’s; they were there and knew otherwise.

Shouldn’t it be obvious? How Mormon Women Hold and Exercise the Priesthood Today May 18, 2014

I examine what LDS General Authorities have said over the past few decades about whether or not women already have some form of priesthood—often contradicting each other in their perspectives about this largely unsettled question. A few months after this post was censored in 2015, the church released a highly relevant Gospel Topics essay that covered a lot of the same ground: Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temple, and Women.

Censored Bits of Mormon Feminist History

One thing I love about having a decade of (uncensored) archived Exponent posts is that they provide a glimpse into the history of our movement, as it appeared to us at the time that events happened.

It’s Not About The Pants. December 13, 2012

I explain why I would participate in Wear Pants to Church Day. (Some of the policy concerns I mentioned at the time have since been resolved! Hooray for speaking out!)

Priestesshood Session April 7, 2013

I report in the launch event of Ordain Women.

The Spirit of Fear September 6, 2013

I share my experience working through my fear as I prepared for the first Ordain Women attempt to attend the male-only priesthood session of General Conference.

Censored Questions

Some of the censored posts raised the question of women’s ordination quite literally, by simply asking readers a poll question about women’s ordination.

Mother in Israel, Judge in Israel August 17, 2014

I ask readers how they would feel about having female bishops. Before this post was censored, 67% of respondents said they would like having a female bishop.

Two Poll Questions About Ordaining Women June 16, 2013

I test a theory about how Mormons react to poll questions about ordination by asking two similar questions. Before this post was censored, 77% of (our atypically feminist-leaning) respondents said that they wanted Mormon women to be ordained, but even more—88%—said they would be pleased if the prophet of the church announced such a change. Since that time, a group of Mormon researchers has conducted a similar experiment on a much larger scale.

Will you fast for women’s ordination? August 18, 2013

I ask readers to attend an interfaith day of fasting and prayer called Equal in Faith. This may be the most mundane censored post of the lot, just proving that even an entirely unprovocative post can aspire to become censored. Which brings me to my last category of censored posts…

Censored Posts Which Don’t Seem Worth the Bother of Censoring

Here we have a sarcastic response to a magazine article and a low-budget animated cartoon. Why would someone even bother to censor such unimportant posts as these? Well, my stake president didn’t actually read all of my posts, looking for the most important or wicked or whatever. He didn’t order me to censor certain, specific posts. What actually happened is that I was ordered to take down every post I had, with the exception of my Ordain Women profile, which raised the question of women’s ordination.

Conference Talk Makeover (Thanks A Lot, Ensign) January 16, 2014

I compare a nuanced talk by Elder Neil L. Andersen with with a write-up of the same talk in the Ensign that changes its original meaning. Snark happens.

Mormon Women’s Ordination Conversation with Animation April 27, 2013

Having some fun with an online cartoon animator, I animated a conversation a women’s ordination supporter might have with a skeptical friend.

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