Tag Archives: Anita Bryant

The paywall is dropped for Anita Bryant’s obituary: Anita Bryant Dry—former Miss Oklahoma, three-time Grammy-nominated singer, Christian author, recipient of the USO Silver Medallion for Service, Veterans of Foreign Wars Leadership Gold Medallion, and Al Jolson Gold Medallion—died at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, on Monday, December 16, 2024, surrounded by her family and friends. She was 84 years old. …

Variety reports: Anita Bryant, a former beauty queen and pop singer of the 1960s whose career led her to become a spokesperson for Florida oranges in the early ’70s and an evangelical crusader against gay rights later in that decade, died Dec. 16 at age 84, her family announced Thursday. The family’s obituary for Anita Bryant Day, as she was …

From the editorial board of the Miami Herald: They carried signs saying “Protect our children” and “Don’t legislate immorality.” Their leader said she spoke as a mother and a Christian, her “Save our children” campaign proclaiming to save Florida’s youth from the influence of gay people. It was 1977, and singer Anita Bryant, known for her Florida orange juice commercials, …

Via press release from Equality Florida: Governor Ron DeSantis is taking a page from Anita Bryant’s playbook, using anti-LGBTQ legislation like “Don’t Say Gay” as a springboard to serve his national political ambitions. From banning books and electronic monitoring of teachers to white-washing history and allowing the state to dictate our health care decisions, Governor DeSantis is committed to an …

VIDEO: Immediately after the pie was thrown, Bob Green, Bryant’s husband at that time said to the activist, “We forgive you. And we love you.” Green then warned others in the room, “Leave him alone, do not touch him.” Several minutes later Green attacked the activist in the parking lot, striking him with a leftover pie. Bryant divorced Green three …

JMG reader Dave Evans has dug into the archives once more and compiled more than hour of historical news footage about Anita Bryant’s anti-gay campaign in Florida. From the clip description: Featuring gay rights activists Bob Kunst, Leonard Matlovich, Jack Campbell, Ruth Shack & Melodie Moorehead. Save Our Children, Inc. was a political coalition formed in 1977 in Miami, Florida …

Oklahoma cops are baffled after a hideous one-ton marble statue was stolen from the front yard of Anita Bryant. Cops are wondering how they did it, not why the fuck somebody would want it. “You have got to be kidding me, I just can’t believe that that happened in that quick of time,” Charlie Dry exclaimed. “I mean, I’m still …

This really takes the…pie. In a discussion about a recent incident involving Brad Pitt, HLN host Nancy Grace brings up the 1977 pie attack on Anita Bryant, who is a “sweet lady” that reminds Grace of her mother. There no mention of Bryant’s vicious (and successful) campaign against gay rights in Miami. The guest speaker chimes in that that Bryant’s …

Especially relevant in light of today’s passing of former Florida Gov. Reubin Askew, coming soon to PBS is a documentary about Anita Bryant and Miami’s famed battle for LGBT rights. The film premiered last week in Miami Beach. For those too young, some back story: As promotion of civil rights for African Americans, women and other disadvantaged groups expanded, a …

Former Democratic Florida Gov. Reubin Askew, who supported Anita Bryant’s campaign to ban gay schoolteachers and who in 1977 signed Florida’s statutory ban on same-sex marriage and gay adoption, has died of pneumonia at the age 85. Despite his opposition to LGBT rights and his other conservative positions, the New York Times today hails Askew as a progressive for his …

JMG reader Dave sends us the above Instragram post by Marie Osmond, who posed backstage with Anita Bryant (left) after a concert. Jeremy Hooper writes at Good As You: “Something tells me that Osmond, a professed equality ally with a lesbian daughter, might regret this post. Sure, they have a shared history. Bryant first sang Paper Roses; Osmond made it …

JMG reader Dave unearthed this 2005 clip of Anita Bryant performing Oklahoma and then telling the audience that the devil has tried to kill her since she was born. “Hey! Does anybody here remember Florida orange juice?”

Deadline reports on the coming Anita Bryant biopic: Uma Thurman will star as controversial anti-gay activist Anita Bryant in Anita, produced by Sex And the City creator Darren Star, Howard Rosenman, Jeffrey Schwarz and Dennis Erdman. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman will direct from a screenplay by Chad Hodge. Those filmmakers, who most recently helmed Lovelace, won Oscars for Common …

Source. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

From the Washington Post: Bob Green, a onetime radio DJ who married pop singer and Miss Oklahoma Anita Bryant, was found dead Jan. 26 at his home in Miami Beach. He was 80. Mr. Green managed his wife’s rise to stardom as an entertainer and Florida citrus spokeswoman, then followed her into anti-gay activism, which ultimately destroyed their careers — …

“I was before her time, but Sally Kern is here for such a time as this. I am grateful for her life and her friendship. Reading The Stoning of Sally Kern was at times like déjà vu, reminding me of my stand in Dade County in 1977. I can highly recommend this book to anyone who loves God, their family, …

Members of GetEQUAL ambushed Maggie Gallagher outside of today’s DOMA hearing to give her their “Anita Bryant Award.”

The original Queen of Hate, Anita Bryant, will be slithering out of whatever sewer she’s been hiding in all these years to appear at an anti-gay event in Oklahoma tomorrow. Gossip Boy reports: The controversial Queen of Gay Hate, Anita Bryant, will be returning to the stage on July 9, 2010 for a patriotic performance in Yukon, OK before an …

HBO is developing a biopic about the life of Anita Bryant, the infamous beauty queen and orange juice spokesperson who successfully spearheaded the 1977 campaign to overturn Miami-Dade county’s new gay rights law. “Sex and the City” creator Darren Star is on board to direct the film, which is being written by “Runaway” creator Chad Hodge. Star also is executive …

JMG reader Douglas In Oklahoma points us to this teaser post by James Miko on a site called Gossip Boy, in which Miko describes having gone undercover at Anita Bryant’s new ministry in Oklahoma City, which she runs with her second husband, Charlie Dry. Miko promises a coming multi-part expose’ on Bryant and Dry, to begin tomorrow. It looks to …