Former MPP Marilyn Churley tells the story of her "shameless" search for her son and her fight to change adoption laws

TORONTO, March 9, 2015 /CNW/ - Former Toronto City Councillor and former Member of Provincial Parliament Marilyn Churley reveals her personal and political struggles around adoption in her compelling new book Shameless: The Fight For Adoption Disclosure and the Search for My Son (Between the Lines books).  Marilyn Churley's first talk on the book will be in Thursday, March 12, 6-8pm Women's Art Association of Canada, 23 Prince Arthur Avenue, Toronto, ON.

In the late 1960s, at the age of eighteen and living far from home amidst the thriving counterculture of Ottawa, Marilyn Churley got pregnant. Like thousands of other women of the time she kept the event a secret. Faced with few options, she placed the baby for adoption.

Churley said "Women have always been coerced into living their lives as society deems appropriate, and tormented, punished, and shamed when they didn't comply. This was particularly the case when it came to sexuality. Boys were just 'sowing their wild oats'; girls were deemed promiscuous 'sluts'.  Even In 1968, being pregnant 'out of wedlock' was viewed by many as a fate worse than death.  I, like many other young women kept my pregnancy a secret, hid out with a friend and in great sorrow, placed my newborn for adoption.  Little did I know at the time how huge an impact this act would have on the rest of my life."

Over twenty years after she relinquished   her baby Churley became the Ontario NDP government's minister responsible for all birth, death, and adoption records, including those of her own child. She found herself in a surprising and powerful position – fully engaged in the long and difficult battle to reform adoption disclosure laws and find her son.

Both a personal and political story, Shameless is a powerful memoir about a mother's struggle with loss, love, secrets, and lies – and an adoption system shrouded in shame.

Marilyn Churley is a former Toronto City Councillor and former Member of Provincial Parliament. She has served as the Deputy Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party and was the Ontario Legislature's first female Deputy Speaker. She has been referred to as the mother of adoption disclosure reform in Ontario.

Since 1977 Between the Lines books has published books that embrace critical perspectives on culture, economics, and society.

SOURCE Between the Lines Books

Matthew Adams, Between the Lines Books, 416-535-9914, [email protected]