When I was 20 years old, in 1974, I was sexually assaulted by another woman 10 years my senior. After this traumatic event, my life was completely turned upside down, and for the following 13 years I identified as a lesbian. After abandoning my Catholic faith, I eventually became a very popular leader in the gay rights movement in Los Angeles. Founded in 1976, the Southern California Women for Understanding was the earliest known lesbian organization with roughly 1,100 local members. As the Chair of Education, my job was not only to promote the general acceptance of homosexuality, but to form and promote discussion groups to help women accept their same sex attraction as normal and natural—even though, the majority of the “coming out” stories I heard involved sexual assaults very like mine, perpetrated by older LGBT-identifying people. Considered feminine and pretty, I frequently appeared on television shows in Los Angeles with my partner to purposefully dispel the public notion that only masculine women were gay.

Little did I know, however, that my mother, a devout Catholic, was fervently praying for me. Though we were estranged, she made hourly Novena prayers for me nine times a day for 10 years. When I went to see her in 1985, she presented me with a Catholic medal, which I wore on the nine-hour drive home. Overcome with conviction, I vowed that day to return to the Catholic church and never again leave. Miraculously, once I gave my life to Christ, I no longer struggled with homosexual desires, nor was I ever again tempted; the change in my life was dramatic and very public. Five years after my conversion experience, I married a wonderful man, and today we have two grown children and four grandchildren. I have been a very devout Catholic Christian and have continued throughout the years to participate in regular Mass. I still thank God every single day and night for answering my mother’s fervent prayers. A woman of great faith, she never doubted her prayers would be answered.