Sharon Moroney:  

My life - school, friends, family, church, home and future - were changed forever, as a direct result of actions taken by staff nuns and the Guidance Counsellor, at Loretto AbbeyCatholic Secondary School, when I was 17 years old. My development as a young woman was hindered greatly, from having suffered public and personal humiliation & shame, at the hands of, then, Vice Principal Sister Joan Overholt, and the Guidance Counsellor, the spring of 1985. I was in grade 12 when I was expelled from Loretto Abbey for 'gay acts' - acts I never committed - that were allegedly witnessed by, and explained to me, and my parents, by Sister Joan. I was to graduate, the following summer, Class of '86. This never happened for me. My future was railroaded by Acts of Fear by the people I was looking to for support. The actions taken by my elders, my supposed role models – who lied about the truth – these bullies that did this with a young girl's life – their actions damaged my developing self-esteem. At my best, I have been self-destructive – at my worst, suicidal. Their actions left me a chronically depressed person. It is because these women chose to treat me like less than human, that also led me to abandon my own spirituality for more than a quarter-century. I wondered "What God would do this to me", when I loved my education, my friends, my family, my future. I wanted a solid education. They took that choice away from me, and my family. To be dragged out of the closet to My World, using lies to expose me - to have to Come Out in such a humiliating fashion... those women took that choice away from me too.... It Gets Better - Toronto, Canada ..... The following is a newspaper article, transcribed from the original. This article was featured in one of Toronto's First Gay Magazines, 'The Body Politic - A Magazine for Lesbian/Gay Liberation' of Pink Triangle Press, September 1985 issue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 'High School Confidential / Out of School - Thrown Out Without Even Coming Out' Pages 13-14 of issue 118 "An arm that seemed to be draped around a shoulder and a Calvin Klein pin-up were enough to get three Toronto students expelled - for lesbianism" Written by Gillian Rodgerson Photos by Kate Lazier Note: The names of the 2 other girls in the following article, who were expelled with me, have been changed. I do not speak for their experiences. "By kicking us out, they've plunged us right into the community." "May 21, the Tuesday after the long Victoria Day weekend, "Sue" and her friend Sharon were sitting on a bench outside the cafeteria at their school - Loretto Abbey, a private Roman Catholic girls' school in Toronto. They were waiting for their friend "Mia" to finish her family studies class so the three of them could go downtown to the office of True North Records to get Rough Trade posters and autographs of Carole Pope. As they sat talking, Sue's arm rested on the back of the bench. They'd thrown a coat around themselves to keep out of the wind. Finally, tired of waiting, they strolled off to the school tuck shop. Sharon was singing "The Smurf Song," an inane tune from the children's TV program. When Mia finished her class, the three of them went downtown, got their autographed pictures and posters, and stopped off for a beer before heading home. Sue remembers sitting in a cafe thinking, "Life is wonderful!" It's too bad the story doesn't end there. Three high school kids cutting class on a spring day near the end of the term to go downtown for pictures of their favourite rock star." When Sue got home, her mother met her at the door with the news that she'd been expelled from school. She thought her mum was kidding, that she'd found out that Sue had skipped school and was trying to scare her. But, then her mother told her that the vice-principal, Sister Joan Overholt, had phoned that afternoon. Her mother told Sue she'd been seen "fondling another girl." Sharon's mother was told her daughter took drugs and that she'd been seen lying on top of another girl on a table in the school cafeteria. Sharon was expelled too. Mia doesn't know what her mother was told. The two of them have barely spoken since Mia was thrown out of school. When Sue and her parents met with the vice-principal the next day, they were told that three nuns claimed to have seen Sue fondling another girl on the bench from a window of the convent that overlooks the cafeteria courtyard. They went to get the vice-principal. The women said that, when Sue and Sharon saw them, they ran away. According to Sue, the two girls had no idea anyone was watching them, and besides, they weren't doing anything worse than skipping class anyway. Sue is fifteen years old. She's bright and articulate, and critical of the world around her. Involved in the peace movement, Editor of the school newspaper, Co-president of the debating team. She's the kind of kid adults are often a little wary of because she so obviously knows her own mind. She even took on Laura McArthur, President of the Right-to-Life Association, when McArthur visited Loretto last year. She insists that even though she expressed pro-choice views at school, "my criticisms of Catholicism were always in the context of the classroom where they were encouraged." At fifteen, Sue knows she's a lesbian. But she says that the incident which preceeded her expulsion from school was innocent. "devoid of any exhibition of subversity or decadence... just ask God, He was there." She and Sharon are not lovers and never have been. In fact, it's Mia that Sharon loves. Sue introduced them early this year after meeting Sharon in chemistry class. When Sharon's parents confronted her after she was expelled from school, she told them she's a lesbian. She thought they already knew. They didn't, they didn't believe it and still don't. "You're not gay," they tell her. "You just have affections for girls." Sharon doesn't see the difference. She's not allowed to see Mia any more, but somehow they manage to contact each other. For a while, they were leaving notes in a phone book in the subway station at Yonge and Bloor. "Page 666," they laugh. Mia's parents discovered the truth about her close friendship with Sharon when they found a letter to Mia from Sharon in her room. After she was expelled, they took away her Carole Pope records and destroyed her hiding place. Each girl's parents blame the other for leading their daughter astray. Now, Mia carries everything that's important to her in a yellow knapsack decorated with peace buttons. "In this bag is my life," she says. Sue, Mia and Sharon had all been seeing a school-appointed psychologist because they were "depressed." They talk about suicide a lot. The night she was expelled from school, Mia went to the medicine cabinet in her parent's home, looking for pills to take, but her parents got there first. All that was left was Ornade, a decongestant. She wasn't allowed to phone Sharon, but planned to escape from her room. "I had all these sheets, like in the movies, all tied. It never would have worked..." She jumped from her bedroom window and ran to call Sharon from a phone booth. Sharon's mother answered and said Sharon was asleep. Returning to the house, Mia found her bedroom window shut and the sheets pulled back inside. She had to knock on the front door and go in through her mother's bridge party. Sharon's mother had called, saying she was worried about Mia....Expand for more