'Leave the garments at home': Latter-day Saints speak out on misrepresentation

A poster for the new season of "The Bachelorette," starring Taylor Frankie Paul of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, was posted online with the tagline Leave the garments at home.

This post stirred up immediate buzz online from fans of the show as well as many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the following days, many people took to their social media pages in response to this poster, most of whom expressed disappointment.

Calvin Marks, a BYU student, shared his initial reaction to seeing the post online while with a friend.

I saw the poster, and it just made me feel misrepresented in a very big way. And I think its just unfortunate that some people really feed off the drama of misrepresenting other people, Marks said.

The poster turned out to be a fan-made, AI-generated image, not released by "The Bachelorette" production for promotional purposes.

However, Frankie Paul reposted the AI-generated image to her Instagram story with the caption People upset about this poster just wait till the actual one releases, suggesting added controversy.

BYU student Ellie Reynolds shared her thoughts on the subject, noting she understands the draw to the excitement of it all.

I feel like there's definitely a culture at BYU that likes stuff like that, and they find the drama fun but when it's taken out of context, it can be very hurtful because it means a lot to a lot of people, Reynolds said.

Although the media buzz surrounding the Church has increased over the last few years, with productions including The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Heretic, Surviving Mormonism with Heather Gay, and The Book of Mormon musical, some BYU students felt this particular post took things a step too far.

Brad Wilcox, a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, shared an analogy that he hopes will help people understand the importance of the temple garment and its sacredness to those who have made temple covenants.

My wife and I do not wear our wedding rings because we have a contract obligation that we can decide to honor or not honor depending on the day, Wilcox said. We wear them as reminders of and symbols of our special relationship. We wear them to show our love and commitment to each other.

He continued, relating this promise to the importance of temple garments.

Similarly, we do not wear the garment of the holy priesthood because we have a contract with God and Jesus Christ, but because we have chosen to enter a special covenant relationship with them. We wear our garments to communicate our love and commitment not just when it is convenient for us, but always, Wilcox said.

Shayla Egan, a Latter-day Saint social media influencer, shared a similar testimony on her Instagram in response to the poster. Egan shared her thoughts on what she believes is the most important reaction for members to have.

This is our time to be missionaries. If youre with friends, if youre at work, you can say, Oh, hey, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ too, just like these women. And I, too, wear the temple garment; let me tell you more about it. People will realize that (the temple garment) is sacred to us, Egan said.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints report they feel misrepresented by the media, Marks shared what he believes is important when declaring the truth.

I think being proactive about just sharing what we believe showing the good and doing service will build bridges of understanding, Marks said.

For BYU students, the response to the poster was less about a television show and more about how sacred religious practices can be reduced to headlines, raising ongoing questions about where entertainment ends and religious respect begins.