Mary Gennoy

Small in stature but a giant among medical marijuana advocates, Mary Gennoy suffered from the lifelong side effects of her mother's radiation treatment undertaken while pregnant. Mary was born July 11, 1951, hard of hearing, lacking forearm bones, missing some fingers and toes and suffering from numerous health problems, including chronic pain and rheumatoid arthritis. She suffered miserably but always managed to rise to the occasion and elicit a smile from those around her.

Her diminuitive stature and visible ailments set her apart even among the San Francisco scene, where she was an icon in the Castro district and in City politics, including a run for county supervisor.
The 4'6" Mary did not limit her political activism to the medical use of marijuana, however. She was an environmentalist who supported the restoration of industrial hemp.

She was a civil rights activist for disabled rights, gay rights and the right of adults to use marijuana without criminal penalties. The feisty advocate of patient rights was active in the San Francisco Prop P campaign, the California Prop 215 campaign and was a regular at the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, where she often rode on the back of a friend's motorcycle for the "Dykes on Bikes" contingent.

"She never felt sorry for herself," fellow SF activist Dennis Peron said. "She said, 'This is the body I've geen given, and I'm going to go with it'." Mary was a fighter and a personal friend to many of the local cannabis reformers, along with Peron, Brownie Mary, Hazel Rogers, Bob Basker, and other luminaries of the 1990s medical marijuana scene in the City.

She died Sept. 5, 2004 at age 53, due to complications after throat surgery.