Out and proud in the late 90's

Twelve years ago I was a senior high school student in Santiago de Chile.
I was an early adopter and by that time I was used to “surf” the Internet and look for everything that wonders my mind. I was about to came out of the closet and visibility and support groups for what was going on with myself it was something that I couldn’t find in real life. Nobody in those years, at least in my country, used to speak out loud about being gay, not to say being lesbian.

The only way I found to connect and speak for a lot of women with the same doubts and questions was to create a website. With the use of online manuals, guides and a lot of reading I was able to create a simple html page that put me in contact with feminism organization, lesbian NGOs and women from different ages and cities across the country with the same feeling of being alone in a heterocentric reality where our sexuality and likes were suppose to be left aside, hidden and quiet.

We found a place where we could be ourselves, without the oppression of our machism society, organize our thoughts and be able to understand the history of our movement, the hate crimes from the past, cooperate with other discriminated groups and develop ways to put our discussion in the air, to breath from there and grow as an equal society.
From those years and with the effort of many like me, and the ones before, Chile has grown into a better and fair community. There’s still a lot of work to do, but the beginning of the path is already build.

I think that is the best story that reflects how and why I am here rising my voice. Maybe the topic has changed, but the need to equality and visibility for the women in my country, our rights, are still a pending debt.