Anita Bryant, who became a lightning rod for controversy with heranti-gay activism, passed away at the age of 84.
The singer and former beauty queen died at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, after battling cancer.
RELATED:
Anita Bryant, the controversial singer known for her anti-gay activism, passed away at the age of 84
Image credits:GAB Archive / Getty
TheTill There Was Yousinger, who called homosexuality “an abomination,” was born in 1940 in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, to parents who divorced, remarried, and then divorced once more over the years.
Her staunch Christian faith was developed during her childhood, which included her singing in church and at local fairgrounds.
Image credits:mattxiv
Among other achievements, she also sang at the Super Bowl V Halftime Show in 1971 and sang theBattle Hymn of the Republicat President Lyndon B. Johnson’s graveside.
View this post on Instagram
At the time, Bryant was extremely vocal about her stance against the ordinance and even started the “Save Our Children” campaign, the main argument being that “homosexuals cannot reproduce, so they must recruit. And to freshen their ranks, they must recruit the youth of America.”
Her unfiltered opinions about homosexuality were exposed in a controversial 1978 interview withPlayboymagazine.
Image credits:Bettmann / Getty
“ … The worst thing is that these days, so many married men with children who don’t have a happy marriage are going into the homosexual bars for satisfaction–if they’re not careful, they’re going to get caught up in it totally.”
Bryant admitted that she had never been vocal about her political opinion in her years-long career before the Dade County ordinance in 1977.
When asked why she decided to turn political and oppose the ordinance, she said: “The basic reason was because I am first and foremost a mother, and I was standing up for my rights as a mother to protect my children after I realized what the threat the homosexuals were posing meant.”
Image credits:Atlanta History Center
Her explanation of the ordinance was that “flaunting homosexuals” could be hired in “the public and the parochial schools.”
“We were fighting religious bigotry. What gives the homosexual any more right to stand up in front of children and talk about his sexual preferences than a man who has a great Dane as his lover?”
The singer called homosexuality an “abomination” and a “sin under the laws of God”
Image credits:Archive Photos / Getty
What initially began as a local issue became a national movement, with Bryant turning into a highly polarizing figure of her era.
“Come to the Florida Sunshine Tree,” she sang in one commercial. “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine!”
Gay bars also began selling a drink called the “Anita Bryant,” which was a typical screwdriver but with apple juice in place of its usual orange juice.
A brief but fiery moment of protest took place against her when a gay activist slammed a banana cream pie in her face during a news conference in Des Moines.
Image credits:Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America / UMKC
“At least it was a fruit pie,” she said right after the pie was flung at her face.
With her face covered in the banana-flavored dessert,she was capturedsaying a prayer and breaking down.
“We’re praying for him to be delivered from his deviant lifestyle, Father,” she said.
Years later, in a 1990 television interview, shesaid: “I don’t regret it, because I did the right thing. Sometimes you have to pay a price for what you believe is right.”
“She’s the first person I remember hating,” a reader commented
Image credits:danzu72
Image credits:VABVOX
Image credits:fredericknchgo
Image credits:FredFerraro
Image credits:tusd1964
Image credits:choirqueen1
Image credits:damienhart1000
Image credits:NickMartin14
Image credits:arianaunext
Image credits:HitsAndCharts
Image credits:SciGodX
Image credits:skinnyforlunch
Image credits:fromdeathrealmYou May LikePassengers Upset After Plane Makes Emergency Landing Due To “Serious Medical” Crisis On BoardKarina BabenokFather Beats Up Lifeguard After He Saved His Boy’s LifeLei RV"Broken Heart-Type Thing": Medical Examiner Shares Theory On Passing Of Gene Hackman And WifeDonata Leskauskaite
Karina Babenok
Lei RV
Donata Leskauskaite
News
