Because the speech drew national media attention , leaders in Johnson 's local Virginia congregation , including Stake President Earl J. Roueche , immediately began excommunication proceedings . A December 1979 excommunication letter claimed that Sonia Johnson was charged with a variety of misdeeds , including hindering the worldwide missionary program , damaging internal Mormon social programs , and teaching false doctrine . Her husband divorced her in October 1979 , two months before the trial ; she attributes his decision to " some kind of mid-life crisis . " 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 headquarters in Washington , D.C . She and twenty ERA supporters were briefly jailed for chaining themselves to the gate of the Seattle Washington Temple in Bellevue , Washington
1980 Democratic National Convention
1980 Democratic National Convention
Sonia Johnson