Mary Alfreda Smith is an American political and LGBT activist, working in the areas of women's and minority rights.
She worked on the Robert F. Kennedy election campaign in 1968,[1] and helped overturn laws that criminalized homosexual activity in California.
[4] Smith left Texas to return to Pocatello to attend Idaho State College, majoring in speech and journalism.
She was still praying for a cure, and felt a strong calling to preach, gaining practice in public speaking by joining the debate team in college.
Following a witch hunt against homosexuals in Boise in 1955–56, Smith left Idaho to find others like her, and ended up in California where she discovered a gay community.
[4] Smith entered the California State University at Sacramento, majoring in English and psychology, graduating with a master's degree and became a licensed marriage and family therapist.
Coming out publicly was rare in those days before Stonewall; homosexuality was still against the law in California, was condemned by the Church, and considered to be a mental disease.
In 2005, she retired and became director of the Reverend Elder Freda Smith Ministries, and to continue her writing to preserve the early history of LGBTQI Christians.