By Donna Kelly

This speech was given at the event, “Equal in Faith” on August 26, 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A mother sits with her family at a church history site. A man calls all boys under the age of 12 up front. He tells the boys how special they are because they will soon have the priesthood. The mother’s young daughters sit quietly next to her looking at the ground. One later asks her “How come girls aren’t special?”

A female missionary is told by her mission president that he wishes he could make her a district leader, but he can’t because she is a woman.

An early morning seminary teacher is told by two rowdy male students that they don’t have to listen to her because she doesn’t hold the priesthood.

A young mother carries her infant in her body for nine months and begs to participate in her child’s blessing. She is not allowed to hold her baby or in any way be a part of the blessing ceremony for her child. A father is talking with his children. He asks his son if he would like to be an apostle someday. His son nods “Yes!” His daughter then says “Me, too, Dad! I want to be an apostle someday!” His heart breaks as he utters these words: “You can’t – you’re a girl.”

These sad scenes are not imaginary – they are real events. Some happened to me, and some happened in the lives of my family and friends.

I cannot put on blinders. I cannot UN-see these atrocities. Once you see these events, they are forever a part of you.

It is inexcusable that these inequalities persist. It is impossible to imagine a God who is unjust, especially since the Savior we worship was revolutionary in His treatment of women.

Jesus was born into a society in which women were inferior in every way to men. Men could possess numerous women – King Solomon had 300 wives and 700 concubines, but a woman was stoned to death if she had more than one partner. Jesus rejected this practice when He pronounced “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.”

Defying the custom of the day, one of his close confidants was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. He approved her hungering for spiritual knowledge by telling her that she had chosen “that better part.”

A Jewish man was prohibited from conversing with a woman in public, yet Jesus conversed openly with the woman at the well, and to the dismay of some of His disciples, He considered her worthy of discussing doctrine.

Much has improved since the days when the Savior walked the earth, but much work remains to be done.

The widespread practice of religion mandating that men rule over women, however well intentioned, often translates into injustices and horrific abuse of women and girls in the secular world. When men who are revered in our churches create a female class not worthy of sitting at the leadership table or in administering ordinances, that creation of an “other” gender class permeates our secular world in many ways. I offer a few examples.

As a prosecutor who has handled crimes of violence against women and girls for 24 years, I have seen “male privilege” play out on the stage of life in horrifying ways. There is an epidemic of crime against women in our nation. An average of 3.4 women are beaten to death every day in America. Every 9 seconds a woman is assaulted. 500 women are sexually assaulted every day in America. And in Utah the numbers are worse than the national average: one in three women in Utah are victimized.

The actions and inactions of church leaders too often give the message that this abuse is inconsequential. I offer one stark contrast as an example.

On June 23, 2014 in downtown Salt Lake City my daughter Kate Kelly collapsed in a pile of tears as she learned she had been excommunicated from the church she loves. Her only crime was in pleading for equal opportunities for women and girls to be allowed to give more service to the church.

On that same day just a few miles away at the point of the mountain, a multitude of men incarcerated for crimes of violent assaults, rape and other sexual atrocities against women and girls remained in good standing in the church. Utah, which is 65 percent LDS, ranks 49th overall out of 50 in 2014’s Best and Worst States for Women’s Equality. ( stats here)

If we’re not outraged, we’re not paying attention.

Why are good and decent leaders of our church not taking the lead in making this world a better place for women? We should be actively leading the nation in every category for women, not sitting inactively at the very bottom.

We must call upon our leaders to create a better world – a place where women and men stand together and serve as equals; a place where kindness replaces abuse, where respect replaces dominance, where all have equal places at the table.

As we progress together toward true equality on the earth, many of us savor the vision of Joseph Smith, who saw that in a better world “all are equal in power and might and dominion.” D & C 76:95.

Why can’t this better world be now?