Bad Mormon

In the Mormon Church, a singles ward is a congregation specifically organized for single adults, typically between the ages of 18-30. Unlike traditional wards, which are based on geographic boundaries and include members of all ages, singles wards focus on serving the spiritual and social needs of young, unmarried members of the Mormon church. In addition to regular worship services and Sunday school classes, singles wards also host social events designed to encourage dating with the explicit goal of marriage, which holds a central place in Mormon theology. Members of the church believe that those who are not married in a temple ceremony cannot achieve the Celestial Kingdom, the region of heaven closest to God. As a result, there is significant pressure for young Mormon singles to marry.

In Bad Mormon, Gay explicitly describes the Huntington Beach singles ward as a marriage market, “a target-rich environment” where she could find “someone to tie [her] down” (141). Her future husband Billy came from a singles ward where “the ratio of single men to single women was fairly even,” resulting in stricter competition. As a result, Billy was used to “taking the lead right out of the gate” (146). These passages underscore Gay’s critique of Expectation Versus Reality in Mormon Marriage, suggesting that the structure of the singles ward facilitated speedy marriages like Billy and Gay’s.