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Tape 2 of the QMUNITY interview with Mary Brooks.
Mary Brooks was born in Birmingham, England in 1955, and describes herself as “a good powerful woman that has grown up to be a lovely dyke”. Mary became aware of gender roles at a young age, as she observed the privilege of her brothers, while being trained to run a household. Anxious to experience life outside of the expected mold, and to surface, amidst her own internalized homophobia, Mary ventured across the Atlantic to Toronto in 1978. A year later, Mary made one of the best decisions of her life, “coming out to Vancouver, and coming out”. After years of trying to suppress her sexuality, Mary “began getting more realistic with [her] feelings and [her] emotions and just letting them go where it was natural for them to be”. Mary quickly established a sense of belonging that she had never felt before; she found her chosen family.
Mary's first political activity was spurred by her employment as a domestic with a very limiting work permit. As she was fighting for labor rights, Mary began volunteering on the Switchboard (the crisis line), and on the board of directors at “The Centre” (now known as QMUNITY). In response to the lack of professional services in place, all proceeds of these volunteer efforts went towards the fight against AIDS. Mary maintains that this incredibly dark time in queer history “pulled the community together, and sucked it dry at the same time”.
After seven years in Vancouver, the legislation for labor rights for domestic workers was passed and Mary was able to apply for landed immigrant status. She became both the Coordinator at “The Centre”, and the Director of Administrative Services for the 1990 Gay Games. According to Mary, the Gay Games “gave birth to a whole new way of being queer in Vancouver . . . and completely transformed the communities.”
After working as the Assistant Manager of the Heritage House Hotel, Mary took an entrepreneurial leap and opened “Sophie's Pet Palace”, on Commercial Drive. After working for years without a break, and surviving two heart attacks, Mary now supplements life's stress with leisure. She owns a home on the Sunshine Coast, and does things that “fill her with bliss”. Mary can be found working in her garden, feeding bees, pruning trees, and travelling to places she had previously only dreamt of, including Africa, India, and the Galapagos Islands. Mary is proud that she broke out of her little English mold, and states that, “if there are a few more roles that I could break, I will break them”.
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