Notorious anti-gay activist Anita Bryant dies aged 84

Anti-gay crusader Anita Bryant, who famously had a pie thrown in her face by an activist, has died at the age 84.

In an announcement on Thursday (9 January), Bryant’s family revealed she died at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, on 16 December.

“May Anita’s memory and her faith in eternal life through Christ comfort all who embraced her,” the family said. She is survived by four children, two stepdaughters and seven grandchildren.

Born on 25 March 1940 in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, Bryant began singing as a young child and was crowned Miss Oklahoma in 1958 and was a runner-up in the Miss America pageant the following year.

Her singing career took off in the 60s and she had chart success with “Paper Roses” and “My Little Corner of the World”, often joined by right-wing entertainer Bob Hope on his tours for overseas troops. She also performed at the Super Bowl half-time show in 1971, at the White House and at Republican and Democrat conventions. She was nominated for a Grammy Award three times.

In 1969, she became a spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission and was involved in numerous commercials for the state’s orange juice. Her song, “Come to the Florida Sunshine Tree”, became the theme for Florida citrus and she coined the phrase: “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.”

However, in the 70s, Byrant turned to politics – setting her on the path that would become her legacy.

At the age of 36, she led a campaign to repeal a Dade County ordinance which protected gay men and lesbians from employment and housing discrimination and ensured they could not be refused work at private Christian schools, notably where her own children were taught.

The campaign became known as “Save Our Children”.

Bryant told Playboy magazine in 1978: “I got involved only because they were asking for special privileges that violated the state law of Florida, not to mention God’s law.”

In addition, she pushed the claim that gay people “recruited” children to also become gay.

“The recruitment of our children is absolutely necessary for the survival and growth of homosexuality… Since homosexuals cannot reproduce, they must recruit, must freshen their ranks,” she said. “As a mother, I know homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children. Therefore, they must recruit our children.”

Despite claiming to “love homosexuals but hate their sin”, she also said: “What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life… I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before.”

Her campaigning – she also “crusaded” in Minnesota, Kansas, Oregon and California – led gay bars to boycott Florida orange juice, and during a televised press conference in 1977 she was pied in the face by gay rights activist Thomas L Higgins. “At least it’s a fruit pie,” Bryant said before praying and proceeding to cry.

The campaign did lead to the repeal of the Dade County anti-discrimination ordinance but Bryant’s career faltered, she divorced her husband – something that did not go down well with her Christian supporters – and filed for bankruptcy. She also became the focus of ridicule by talk show hosts, including the massively popular Johnny Carson, and even faced opposition from top Republican politicians such as Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.

In 2021, it emerged that Bryant’s granddaughter Sarah Green was marrying another woman.

On her 21st birthday, Green had come out to her grandmother, after Bryant voiced hopes that she would find the right man.

“I hope he doesn’t come along because I’m gay, and I don’t want a man to come along,” Green had told her granny.

She went on to tell the One Year podcast: “It’s very hard to argue with someone who thinks that an integral part of your identity is just an evil delusion. She wants a relationship with a person who doesn’t exist because I’m not the person she wants me to be.”

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