After her college years Moraga made a realization that led to a new found connection with her mother. She acknowledged her own lesbianism after years of hiding it, from not only others, but herself. The acceptance of her homosexuality became a link to the heart of her Chicana heritage and opened new doors for an understanding of herself and her family. "When I finally lifted the lid to my lesbianism, a profound connection with my mother reawakened in me. It wasn't until I acknowledged and confronted my own lesbianism in the flesh, that my heartfelt identification with and empathy for my mother's oppression--due to being poor, uneducated, and Chicana--was realized," she said.
From: http://www.femmenoir.net/lesbianl42211.htm
Contrast with quote p. 123
Mario: I can't do that, `amá. I can't put my body one place and my heart another. I'm not my father