I grew up in a family in which my father was a "comisario de barrio" where we lived in Santurce, Puerto Rico.  I used to help my father with the plight of the poor and the illiterate.  From my mother, I learned the need to fight for the rights of women. Since then, I have been working on grassroots movements for Human Rights all my life.  At the age of 18, I volunteered as a secretary for the blood bank of the only public hospital in Santurce.  At the blood bank I worked helping the poor obtain blood transfusions for surgery and advocated for those who could not pay for their services.
     Once I came to the United States in 1974, I became even more involved with Human Rights issues.  I helped found and worked for PABE (Pennsylvania Association for Bilingual Education) and the International Classroom at the University of Pennsylvania.  Our aim was to help Latina/o  children to be given their proper educational rights in the state's school system. At that time, the Philadelphia school  district was harboring non-English speaking students outside of schools.  The children were being placed, for example, in garages and labeled as 'abnormal' because they only spoke Spanish.  I worked to end that.  Later on, I became associated with the Civil Rights movement in the State of New Jersey and participated as a secretary in the New Jersey Voters for Civil Liberties organization.  Our goal was to obtain human rights for Gays and Lesbians.  I received a Lifetime Achievement Award for this work in 1990 from all the Gay and Lesbian organizations in the State of New Jersey.
     I have worked with hospitals for the rights of emotionally challenged individuals.  I have also received numerous awards for my advocacy of AIDS patients, including the Bayard Rustin Award from AIDS Massachusetts.  I was named Woman of the Year at Western Kentucky University for establishing support groups for Gays and Lesbians, and people suffering from AIDS.
    My life has been threatened many times throughout my career. It initially started at Rutgers University where I was the first open Lesbian in my department. At Rutgers, I demanded the inclusion of Caribbean and Gay and Lesbians texts and contexts in the curriculum. The worst aspect of these threats occurred at SUNY-Brockport in New York when a student who never took classes from me put up posters with my official university photograph and demanded that I be shot "as a dog" because of being an open Lesbian on campus. The student was never reprimanded and the university administration condoned his actions. In Maine, I have also suffered threats since I have undertaken to speak on behalf of the poor and under represented groups in the State and at colleges in the area.
    Currently, I continue to be involved in working for the rights of the emotionally challenged and the disabled. I have worked with the Red Cross, the Ford Foundation, and Amnesty International on different Human Rights projects.  In the year 2002, I was included in a USA Congressional Proclamation honoring outstanding women in Maine.  I have recently undertaken the fight for having our copyrights honored by publishing houses who make millions out of our work without giving us our due for our creativity.  I invite you to read my comments on university press violations.