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Jan 09 2025
Anita Bryant, Virulently Anti-Gay Force Of The '70s, Died Last Month @ 84 Comments (0)

MaxresdefaultBye, bitch. (Image via Columbia)

Anita Bryant, the former Miss Oklahoma and pop singer who lost career momentum when she devoted herself to squelching gay rights in the 1970s, is dead at 84.

She died at her Edmond, Oklahoma, home December 16.

Bryant was a beauty queen in the late '50s, losing Miss America to Mary Ann Mobley. She enjoyed Hot 100 success with songs like “Till There Was You” (1959) and her signature hit “Paper Roses” (1960), the latter a Top 5 smash that was covered by Marie Osmond successfully in the '70s.

Bryant performed with Bob Hope during the Vietnam War and became known for her rendition of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which she sang at Lyndon B. Johnson's 1973 funeral.

An in-demand pitchwoman, she became widely known as the singing voice of the Florida Citrus Commission.

In 1977, Bryant founded the Save Our Children campaign in response to the progressive Miami-Dade ordinance banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. She was, in many ways, the first prominent voice against LGBTQ+ rights (focused on gay men) in the name of protecting the innocence of kids.

That same year, speaking at a press conference in Iowa, she was face-pied by gay activist Thom Higgins, who could easily have been charged with battery. She had the presence of mind to joke, “At least it's a fruit pie.” Becoming more emotional, she allowed her first husband to lead her in prayer for Higgins's soul rather than pressing charges.

A holy roller, she nonetheless sat for an interview with Playboy in 1978, admitting:

You know, when I was a child, you didn’t even mention the word “homosexual,” much less find out what the act was about. You knew it was very bad, but you couldn’t imagine what they tried to do, exactly, in terms of one taking a male role and the other taking a female role. I mean, it was too filthy to think about, and you had other things to think about. So, when I finally found out all the implications, it was a total revelation for me.

A major inspiration for Rev. Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, her work also led to the Briggs Initiative, an early Don't Say Gay push in California that failed miserably in 1978 when Democrats, President Carter and even former Gov. Ronald Reagan opposed it.

In 1980, she was dumped by the Florida Citrus Commission.

In the '90s, Bryant played Branson, Missouri, and opened Anita Bryant's Music Mansion in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. That failed in 2001, and she had mostly retired from performing by 1996.

Interestingly, a lot of what caused Bryant's career to falter was not just widespread ridicule over her anti-gay fervor, but her divorce. Her religious fans treated her like a scarlet woman over that.

Remarried to Charlie Hobson Dry, who preceded her in death, she's survived by her four kids, her two stepkids, and her seven grandchildren — one of whom is reportedly a lesbian who married a woman.

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