January 2015 | Issue 3.2 | OutBoise.com
NEWS | OutBoise Magazine | 9
This isn’t the radical gay agenda that religious
conservatives and zealots are concerned about.
This is a remarkably passionate woman giving her
time and effort for the success of her son and his
school and being noticed for who she is and not
what she is.
The previous night I had attended the Boise
Gay Men’s Chorus’ The Lights of Christmas concert
and the theme was the “light” in your life that is a
beacon of hope. Remember, Brandi believes that
if we do not know where we have been and how
we got to where we are now then we will never be
able to move forward. One of Brandi’s beacons
of light is a longstanding fixture and trailblazer in
the Boise gay world: Mary Evelyn “Evie” Smith.
Evie has been a part of Brandi’s whole life and
Brandi considers her an aunt. Brandi’s mother and
Evie were roommates and due to this relationship
with Evie, her mother’s love never faltered and
remained unconditional. Her mother did cry when
Brandi came out and that was because she did
not want Brandi to have the struggle that she saw
with Evie and Evie’s inability to be who she was at
that time in Idaho. Her mother has always been
super supportive and continues to be.
Brandi’s past is a wonderful journey of selfdiscovery. Brandi was born and raised in the
small town of Burley, Idaho. After graduating high
school, a class of 172 people, she joined the Army
and had a successful tenure as an interrogator.
She moved to Boise when she was 23-years-old,
met her future husband when she was 25 years
old, married and had children immediately. At
33-years-old, she and her husband separated.
She met Maria. Maria was older and a “Gold Star”
lesbian. Brandi was technically still married and
still living in the same house as her husband. Maria
and Brandi travelled to Washington State and
married two years ago.
Brandi told a wonderful story about marriage
versus gay marriage. It was a few years ago when
“Same Love” from Mackelmore was released
and one day when she was driving her sons to
school and the song came on the radio, she
cranked up the volume. Her sons were aghast due
to her turning up the volume for the umpteenth
time every time the song came on. Brandy was
flabbergasted by their response. She responded
by explaining how important the message of the
song was because for her, whom isn’t allowed to
marry the person she loves. This song is telling the
world it is ridiculous.
She also explained that up until this point those
that have been denied the opportunity to marry
couldn’t say anything about it but here is this guy
who has the ability to speak to the whole world
and he is saying that love is love no matter who it
is with. She was amazed by her son’s remarkable
perspective on the world with his next statemen