I'm a sixth generation Mormon. My excommunication would be painful not only to me but even more so to my extended family. I love the religion and its people, even if I dislike its claims to exclusive truth and even though I have major disagreements with present church policies, especially those dealing with the status of women. I've stayed in the Church in spite of personal pain because I have deep spiritual and emotional ties to the religion and because I believe I have a right as a member to help define what that religion is and will be. If all thinking Mormons leave the Church, all of the expansive, liberating aspects of Mormon theology are likely to be lost and the atmosphere in the Church will only become more oppressive.
Someone needs to speak out for change.
Someone needs to oppose this stultifying climate of fear. The members at large deserve something better. These are the kinds of arguments I used to boster myself. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing, nevertheless they give up their lives to that little or nothing.