Facing Forward

I’m glad I didn’t miss her when she walked into my life.

In fact, I was ready for her.

When Rachel walked into my life, I was ready to be her partner. I was facing forward.

I’ve been facing forward for gay rights since I was a little girl. My beloved uncle and inspiration, Efrain, was gay and in the closet. With love and patience, he explained to me that gay people didn’t deserve my derogatory scorn. Years later, long after he died of AIDS and as I entered adulthood, I realized that my uncle had deserved all the opportunities that I would enjoy.

I knew a few gay people in high school and college, but as an adult I finally added myself to the LGBT community as a friend and activist. As a supporter of LGBT rights, I was a supporter of basic equality. My co-worker at the ACLU and her partner and their children deserved the same rights that I would have with my family.

I always said that everyone is a little bit gay. On a more serious note, I’m grateful to every LGBT person who let me see a little bit of their life, good and bad. The blush of first love, the bitter breakups, the spats over household chores, the toils with in-laws, the late nights of baby nursing, all the little scenes that make a lifetime of love and partnership, all were the same for my LGBT friends and me. When I married my ex-husband, I joked that we would divorce and remarry in the first state that allowed gay marriage. My heart soared when gay couples began marrying in San Francisco and I wept when we lost state after state to DOMA legislation.

All that time living closely with the LGBT community left me with a precious gift: an open mind and an open heart. When Rachel walked into my life, my heart came alive and nothing stood between me and my joy. I knew my feelings weren’t wrong, I knew what our life together might look like, I knew that my friends and family would embrace me, I knew what obstacles we would have to overcome, I knew what opportunities lay ahead of us, I knew I wanted to pursue happiness.

I don’t know if I was always gay, but I do know that thanks to the love and warmth of my LGBT family and friends, I trusted my heart was just and pure when it fell in love with Rachel. I was facing forward and waiting for her.

2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference

I’m home from an amazing week in San Francisco. I enjoyed catching up with old friends and meeting so many of my twitter nptech buddies!

Can’t wait for 2010 in Atlanta!

(View my live blogging notes)

Arg!

Pattie (@piratealice) got Edgar’d!

Upcoming Events

I’m excited to be speaking on some of my favorites topics in the coming months:

April 9: Tweet Tweet Brown Bag Lunch
At this free event, we will discuss Twitter and how nonprofits can use it to fulfill their mission. I’m excited to share how I’ve been using it for Heartland Alliance.
(Download the Presentation: Nonprofit Twitter Case Study)

May 2: The Metropolitan Board of the Chicago Urban League

For the panel “Beyond Now: Taking Care of today for your Career tomorrow” I will be sharing my experience serving on the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Chicago board.

June 10 & 11: Making Media Conference

I’m excited to participate in the “I Love My Website” panel! HeartlandAlliance.org had a major facelift in 2008, and we’ve learned a lot of do’s and dont’s from the process.
(Register)

I will also be participating in:

April 11: Chicago Conference on Human Rights

Representing Heartland Alliance and myself, I’m looking forward to learning more about human rights activism.

April 26 -28: Nonprofit Technology Conference

This is my favorite conference of the entire year! It’s the best place to connect with others about nonprofit communications, technology, fundraising, and advocacy. I’ll be representing Heartland Alliance and possibly participating on a panel.
(View my live blogging notes)

May 14: Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management’s Symposium

Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Chicago is a proud sponsor of this event. I look forward to seeing some familar faces and making new connections!
(Register)

An Updated Bio

Yesenia Sotelo has been breaking websites since 1997.  She is the Manager of Interactive and New Media at Heartland Alliance and Executive Co-Chair of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Chicago. Yesenia gets geeked about helping nonprofits use the internet for fundraising, communications and advocacy. You can find her online at http://www.silverbell.org or send her a tweet to @silverbell.

Human Rights in America

Human rights are traditional American values. Human rights were written into America’s founding ideals and etched into our first documents. We’ve stood by and for human rights through peace and wartime, at home and abroad.

Since it was opened, the prison at Guantanamo Bay has represented all that went wrong with our respect for human rights in a time of crisis. We allowed the imprisonment of people who had seen no judge, who had been heard by no jury, who were assigned no lawyer, against whom we saw no evidence. We set human rights aside in the name of protecting America. But we had forgotten that without human rights, “America” is an incomplete vision.

The prison at Guantanamo Bay has weighed heavy in my heart for years. After watching my colleagues at the ACLU and Center for Constitutional Rights fail again and again in their attempts to secure basic legal access for the prisoners, I had become convinced that we would not see the end of this most basic violation of American values.

Next week, President Obama will issue an executive order to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay. We will start our gradual return to the founding ideals that were etched into our first documents:

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Celebrating World AIDS Day

Sometimes when I go to brunch at Tweet, I look around at the festive atmosphere of Big Chicks (the gay bar owned by the same person), and I wonder what it was like to be there in the 80s and 90s when so many people were lost to the AIDS epidemic in America. My uncle died of AIDS in 1993, and, while I miss him terribly, I’m also glad that so many have been saved since then and that we continue to work together to end this epidemic.

My buddy Stacey helps run Epic Change, which is rebuilding and expanding a school in Tanzania that teaches orphans, including those that have lost their parents to AIDS. My friend Maude works for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, which helps raise money and awareness.

I work for Heartland Alliance, which tackles the epidemic by conducting AIDS policy research, providing housing and health care for those living with AIDS in America , caring for the mental well-being of women living with AIDS in Rwanda, and fundraising for all these worthy efforts through a celebration of art.

Here’s to ending the spread of AIDS, starting with a new administration that will support age-appropriate and medically accurate sexual education at home and abroad.

Four years later. Twenty nine years old.

And I’ve been waiting for a lifetime.

Four years ago, the Chicago Tribune printed my very angry letter that I wrote after the paper endorsed George Bush for a second term. I don’t think I would write that letter again.

I wouldn’t write that letter again, because I’m not angry and young. I’m older, and in need of inspiration.

• I want to believe that my country respects human rights, and that we will treat all prisoners humanely and give all people a fair trial.
• I want to believe that American women and girls have the same opportunities as American men and boys, that, as equal citizens, women make private choices about our own bodies.
• I want to believe that Americans can protect our environment and become a world leader in clean energy and green business models.
• I want to believe that as an American citizen, I can marry the person I love, no matter who they are.
• I want to believe that my sons and daughters will never fight an unjust war.

I want to know that our President believes all these things, and that we are all working together to fill our lives with meaning.

Tomorrow, when I vote for Barack Obama, I’ll take a moment to thank the people that helped shape my life, whose lives ended too soon, and because of whom I seek to make all of our lives better. Maybe you have someone like that too?

I’m not getting my hopes up but…

These poll numbers at Real Clear Politics look awesome:

Obama +6.8

Voting Responsibly

I had a stress dream this morning that it was Election Day and I had slept in too late and forgotten to write up my list of candidates for whom I was voting. Don’t let my stress dream happen to you! Check out VoteforJudges.org and ChicagoElections.com to get ready for next Tuesday!

(P.S. Wilco is giving away a song to anyone who pledges to vote!)