FOG BLOG SAINT JOHN LOG : ADVOCATE FOR LGBTQ RIGHTS JUDITH MEINERT HAS DIED AT 81!

Saint John LGBTQ advocate's love for her son fuelled love for an entire community.......Judith Meinert, tireless champion of LGBTQ rights, has died at age 81.......Judith Meinert's son came out in Grade 12 in the early 1980s, not an easy time to be gay in Saint John.

But Meinert didn't just quietly support him in the background, she became the face and the voice of the gay community and a fierce defender of the rights of its people.

"Her son Parker was the one who brought her into our community," said Wayne Harrison, who helped Meinert form Saint John's PFLAG chapter in the mid-1990s.

"At first, it was a bit of a struggle. She, too, had to change her mind, and change her mind she did. Judith has been a force to be reckoned with in the LGBT community for years."

Judith Meinert died on Monday of natural causes at the Saint John Regional Hospital. She was 81.

Her death has sparked an outpouring of memories and tributes among her friends and family, and the community to whom she gave so much.

André Gallant, who was married to Meinert's son, Parker Cogswell, until his death 18 months ago, recalled Meinert's vibrance and energy.

"Judith was exuberant, full of life and extremely colourful, even down to her rainbow-coloured hair," he said.