Editing Sonia Johnson (section)

==LDS Church and ERA==
Johnson began speaking out in support of the ERA in 1977 and with three other women, co-founded an organization called ''[[Mormons for ERA]]''. National exposure occurred with her 1978 testimony in front of the [[United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights]], and she continued speaking and promoting the ERA and denouncing the LDS Church's opposition to the amendment.<ref name="Papers" /><ref name="APAspeech">Sonia Johnson, Ed.D. [http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon415.htm Patriarchal Panic: Sexual Politics in the Mormon Church], paper presented as chair of Mormons for ERA at the [[American Psychological Association]] Meetings, New York City, September 1, 1979. Online reprint by Recovery from Mormonism (Exmormon.org)</ref> Faith-based feminist [[Joan M. Martin]] also testified during this committee hearing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Constitution |first=United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U262aqWJV7oC&dq=%22joan+martin%22+Equal+rights+amendment+testimony+sonia+johnson&pg=PA291 |title=Equal Rights Amendment Extension: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, Second Session, on S.J. Res. 134 ... August 2, 3, and 4, 1978 |date=1979 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}</ref>

The LDS Church began [[Membership council|disciplinary proceedings]] against Johnson after she delivered a scathing speech entitled "Patriarchal Panic: Sexual Politics in the Mormon Church" at a meeting of the [[American Psychological Association]] (APA) in New York City in September 1979. Johnson denounced as immoral and illegal the LDS Church's nationwide lobbying efforts to prevent passage of the ERA.<ref name="APAspeech" />

Because the speech drew national media attention,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/directory/sonia-johnson/|title=Sonia Johnson|website=awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu (Archives of Women's Political Communication)|publisher=Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, [[Iowa State University]]}}</ref> leaders in Johnson's local Virginia congregation, including [[stake president]] Earl J. Roueche,<ref name=":0" /> immediately began excommunication proceedings. A December 1979 excommunication letter stated that Johnson was charged with a variety of misdeeds, including hindering the worldwide [[Mormon missionary|missionary]] program, damaging internal church social programs, and teaching false doctrine.<ref>[[Linda Sillitoe|Sillitoe, Linda]], [https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/019-35-43.pdf "Church Politics and Sonia Johnson: The Central Conundrum"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422215443/https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/019-35-43.pdf |date=April 22, 2019 }}, ''[[Sunstone Magazine]]'', Issue No: 19, January–February, 1980.</ref>  Her husband divorced her in October 1979, two months before the proceeding. She attributed his decision to "some kind of mid-life crisis."<ref name="People" />

After her break with the church, Johnson continued promoting the ERA, speaking on television and at numerous functions throughout the country, including the [[1980 Democratic National Convention]]. She also protested venues such as the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] headquarters in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="Stack" /> She and twenty ERA supporters were briefly jailed for chaining themselves to the gate of the [[Seattle Washington Temple]] in [[Bellevue, Washington]].<ref name="Stack" />

In the summer of 1982, Johnson led seven other women from around the country in a dramatic public [[hunger strike]] in [[Springfield, Illinois]].<ref name="Stack" /> The group targeted [[Illinois]] because it was the only Northern industrial state that hadn't ratified the ERA.<ref name="Woulfe">{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-08-14-8801230338-story.html|title=A LESSON FROM A RADICAL FAST|last=Woulfe|first=Molly|publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]]|website=ChicagoTribune.com|date=14 August 1988}}</ref> During the [[Women Hunger for Justice]] fast, the feminist activists kept daily vigils in the rotunda of the capitol, but the amendment eventually failed in the Illinois House on June 22. The group broke its 37-day, water-only fast with a round of grape juice.<ref name="Woulfe" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/06/25/coming-home-after-the-era-fast/f4fd6dc7-02a3-44c9-9500-9b7144214f26/|title=Coming Home After the ERA Fast|last=Mansfield|first=Stephanie|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|date=25 June 1982}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/05/27/The-leader-of-a-hunger-strike-for-the-Equal/6336391320000/|title=The leader of a hunger strike for the Equal Rights Amendment said Thursday....|last=Magnuson|first=Karen M.|website=UPI.com|publisher=[[United Press International]]|date=27 May 1982}}</ref> In the 1980s, she was also affiliated with the feminist group known as [[A Group of Women]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 2, 1982 |title=ERA Backers Spill Blood on a Copy of the Constitution |work=The Des Moines Register}}</ref>