Outrage Alert: Catholic High School Says No to Filming of Ellen Page/Julianne Moore's Lesbian Love Story "Freeheld"

Freeheld is shaping up to be on of the most powerful films of 2015. The true story based on the 2007 Oscar award-winning documentary by Cynthia Wade stars Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as a lesbian couple who embark on a decade-long fight to extend domestic partnership benefits as Julianne's character is dying of lung cancer. The synopsis alone is enough to make us emotional, but as the cast and crew recently discovered, not everyone is on the same page, especially the folks at Salesian High School. 

While scouting for a location to film a scene where the couple applies for a civil union, the location scout discovered that Salesian High School, an all-boys Catholic Private school in New Rochelle, NY,  was available for the afternoon. However, when the request was passed on to higher-ups in the administration, the request was shut down. Producer Michael Shamberg appealed directly to the school's principal who offered to pass along another email to the school's president, but the message was met with no response and the Freeheld team was forced to move on to a new location. 

BuzzFeed News did some further investigating and reached out to directly to the school's principal. His response to the accusation that the process was halted due to the LGBT content of the film was simply, “All are welcomed at Salesian High School. Our School chooses to embrace the social issues such as hunger, homelessness, poverty, and helping the less fortunate.” It's a vague way to dodge the bigger question, but it's pretty safe to say that missing the opportunity to be a part of such an important story is truly Salesian High School's loss.