Much has been said of discrimination against African American males and LDS women in regard to holding the priesthood in the LDS Church.

Acting under what he and his people believed to be divine direction, some time late in the 1830s the Prophet Joseph Smith established a position that the blessings of the priesthood should be withheld from black members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This practice continued in the Church through Joseph Smith's successors until the announcement of a revelation received by Spencer W. Kimball, twelfth president of the Church, in June of 1978. There is no statement directly from Joseph Smith himself offering commentary or doctrinal explanation for such an action, though the scriptural basis for a lineage-based granting or denial of priesthood may be found in the Pearl of Great Price. (Moses 7:8, 22; Abr. 1:21-27; see also Gen. 4:1-15; Moses 5:18-41.) Leaders of the Church have repeatedly affirmed that the position of the Church in regard to who does and does not bear the priesthood is a matter of revelation from heaven and not simply social or political expediency.

As to the fact that certain individuals or groups of people have not always had access to the full blessings of the gospel or the priesthood, there is also scriptural precedent. From the days of Moses to the coming of Jesus Christ, the Aaronic or Levitical Priesthood was conferred only upon worthy descendants of the tribe of Levi. In the first Christian century, the message of salvation was presented first to the Jews (the "lost sheep of the house of Israel," Matt. 10:5-6; 15:24) and then later, primarily through the labors of the Apostle Paul, to the Gentile nations. Ultimately the blessings of the Lord are for all people, "black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." (Book of Mormon, 2 Ne. 26:33.) At the same time, God has a plan, a divine timetable by which his purposes are brought to pass in and through his children on earth. He knows the end from the beginning and the times before appointed for specific doings and eventualities. (See Acts 17:26.) That timetable may not be ignored, slighted, or altered by finite man. The faithful seek to live in harmony with God's will and go forward in life with all patience and faith.

Women in the LDS Church are not ordained to the priesthood. The leaders of the Church have instructed that men and women have roles in life that are equally important but different. Some roles are best suited to the masculine nature, while women have natural and innate capacities to do some things that are more difficult for men. Because of the sanctity of the family and the home and because of the vital nature of the family in the preservation of society, Latter-day Saints teach that motherhood is the highest and holiest calling a woman can assume. The Mormons believe that women should search, study, learn, prepare, and develop in every way possible—socially, intellectually, and spiritually—but that no role in society will bring as much fulfillment or contribute more to the good of humankind than motherhood.

There is nothing in LDS doctrine to suggest that to be a man is preferred in the sight of God, or that the Almighty loves males more than females. Latter-day Saint theology condemns unrighteous dominion in any form, as well as any type of discrimination because of race, color, or gender. God is no respecter of persons. Women are the daughters of God, are entitled to every spiritual gift, every virtue, and every fruit of the Spirit. Priesthood is not maleness, nor should it be equated with male administration. A man who holds the priesthood does not have any advantage over a woman in qualifying for salvation in the highest heaven. Priesthood is divine authority given to worthy men, as a part of God's great plan of happiness. Why it is bestowed upon men and not women is not known. The highest ordinance of the priesthood, received in the temple, is given only to a man and a woman together.

A Latter-day Saint apostle, James E. Talmage, stated, "In the restored Church of Jesus Christ, the Holy Priesthood is conferred, as an individual bestowal, upon men only, and this in accordance with Divine requirement. It is not given to woman to exercise the authority of the Priesthood independently; nevertheless, in the sacred endowments associated with the ordinances pertaining to the House of the Lord, woman shares with man the blessings of the Priesthood. When the frailties and imperfections of mortality are left behind, in the glorified state of the blessed hereafter, husband and wife will administer in their respective stations, seeing and understanding alike, and co-operating to the full in the government of their family kingdom. Then shall woman be recompensed in rich measure for all the injustice that womanhood has endured in mortality. Then shall woman reign by Divine right, a queen in the resplendent realm of her glorified state, even as exalted man shall stand, priest and king unto the Most High God. Mortal eye cannot see nor mind comprehend the beauty, glory, and majesty of a righteous woman made perfect in the celestial kingdom of God."<#>8

(Robert L. Millet, The Mormon Faith: Understanding Restored Christianity [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998], 178 - 179