Grammy-nominated singer and former beauty queen Anita Bryant passed away on December 16. Bryant gained notoriety in the 1970s for her opposition to homosexual rights. She was eighty-four.
According to an obituary published Thursday in Oklahoma City’s The Oklahoman, Bryant passed away at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, surrounded by family and loved ones. Before winning the title of Miss Oklahoma at the age of 18, she had a promising musical career as a young girl.
As an adult, Bryant’s musical career took off, and she sang at the Super Bowl in 1971 as well as the 1968 Democratic and Republican national conventions. At the burial of President Lyndon B. Johnson, she performed the Battle Hymn of the Republic. In the 1970s, Bryant once more rose to national notoriety as the television face of Coca-Cola and Florida orange juice.
Bryant’s 1977 campaign against gay rights and her entry into Florida politics are arguably what made her most famous. She portrayed gays and lesbians as a menace to the nation’s young in her Save Our Children campaign. A recently enacted Miami-Dade County ordinance that forbade discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public services, employment, and housing was successfully overturned at the time of the effort.
Since they are unable to procreate, homosexuals must recruit. As Bryant famously stated, they must enlist America’s youth in order to replenish their ranks.
Bryant’s campaign made comparisons to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, which its opponents called the Don’t Say Gay bill, almost fifty years later. In accordance with state standards, the law, which was passed in 2022, forbids teaching sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade or in a way that is not developmentally or age-appropriate for pupils. It was extended to include the eighth grade a year later.
Bryant’s promising career in music and television finally failed due to her anti-gay comments. She was forced to declare for bankruptcy twice after her booking agent fired her and the Florida Citrus Commission stopped advertising her orange juice advertisements. Additionally, in 1998, the antidiscrimination law that she had assisted in repealing in 1977 was reinstated.
On her 21st birthday, Sarah Green, Bryant’s grandchild and now married lady, informed Slatein 2021 that she came out to her grandma. Bryant’s response, Green told Slate, was that homosexuality isn’t real.
According to Bryant’s obituary, she was the leader of Anita Bryant Ministries International, a group that inspires people to live with purpose and faith, toward the end of her life.