Former Miss Oklahoma (1954), singer, and anti-gay campaigner Anita Bryant has passed away at the age of 84–her family announced via The Oklahoman Obituary.
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Anita Bryant was best known for her singing career, with hits like Paper Roses, Till There Was You (from Broadway’s The Music Man), Step by Step, Little by Little, and In My Little Corner of the World. At age 12, Bryant hosted her own show, The Anita Bryant Show, on the WKY (now KFOR-TV) channel. She went on to earn three Grammy nominations throughout her career for Best Spiritual and Best Sacred . Later on, she went on to win Miss Oklahoma in 1958 shortly after graduating high school and achieved second runner-up in the Miss America 1959 pageant.
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The singer also rose to prominence after becoming a brand ambassador and “sunshine girl” for the Florida Citrus Commission–”Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine,” they said. She was also seen in commercials for Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, Holiday Inn, and Tupperware.
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However, around that time, she also began to become an outspoken crusader of anti-gay movements, and her career started to plummet afterwards. In an interview with Playboy Magazine in May of 1978, details of how her devotion to Christian ideals were cause for her to stand vocally against homosexuality, and with that, her bookings began to dissipate with the threat of protests from homosexuals during that time.
45 years ago today: anita bryant, a singer who became famous for her national “crusade against homosexuality,” was pied on national TV by a gay guy posing as a reporter pic.twitter.com/FVGRPWY11t
— matt (@mattxiv) October 14, 2022
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She protested through the Save the Children Federation (later Protect America’s Children). Anita told Playboy about how she got into the anti-gay movement, referencing her religion as a catalyst for her actions:
“I got involved only because they were asking for special privileges that violated the state law of Florida, not to mention God’s law. 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.”
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The singer admitted to losing about half a million dollars after the protests. Later on, Anita would also be known for saying:
“Homosexuals cannot reproduce, so they must recruit. And to freshen their ranks, they must recruit the youth of America.”
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After Anita’s career dissipated, she would later on become more involved with her religion and motherhood. Later in life, she led Anita Bryant Ministries International, “an organization encouraging others to live with faith and purpose.” Anita is survived by her four children–Bobby, Gloria, Billy, and Barbara, two stepdaughters, and seven grandchildren and their spouses.
Source: The Oklahoman, Playboy
I hope the hateful old bat rots in hell!