Who’s Afraid Of Anita Bryant?

Anita Bryant is going to star in a new movie about an old rival, San Francisco gay politician Harvey Milk, whether she wants to or not. I have no doubt this movie, Milk, by Gus Van Sant starring Sean Penn, will be huge success. It includes footage from her public appearances against the gay community. But instead of celebrating the homophobic crusades she won in the 70’s, this film is celebrating a decisive moment in the progress of gay rights. Ultimate defeat as a bigot will be her legacy to mankind. What a bitter pill for a God-fearing woman.

Is Anita Bryant the demon the gay community makes her out to be? I don’t think so. I think she is a good person, a talented person. Misguided, but not evil. Her life shows what happens when you suspend individual rights in the name of fundamentalist dogma, when you apply faith to public ethics instead of reason.

What happened to the Anita Bryant of the days of Lawrence Welk and the Lennon Sisters, to the sweetheart singer who placed 11 songs in the Top 100 in the early 60’s? I believe it is the same thing that happened to many American values of that time. She mixed faith with reason on equal footing and learned the consequences of fighting to impede individual rights. Essentially, she became discredited and cast aside.

The first inkling of this came about because of orange juice of all things. She used to be the spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission. Who can ever forget her charming famous catchphrase from the 70’s: "Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine"?

Then in 1977, Dade County, Florida (now Miami-Dade County) passed an ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. Anita Bryant led the now-famous Christian movement called "Save Our Children" to repeal it. She won and it was a black mark on the history of USA government. (It was reinstated in 1998.)

One of the tenets of that movement was that homosexuality is a sin. Call it what you want, but a right to exist in any form, so long as you do not harm another, is not a sin. At least not in public ethics. It is an individual right expressed by the doctrine of equality of all individuals under the law.

As to children, there is no scientific evidence that contact with homosexual adults harms children. None. That is a faith-based doctrine and it flies in the face of reason. Thus, it cannot be grounds for law. But under faith it works. The problem is, “Whose faith?” A Christian's faith? A homosexual's faith? When faiths collide, which faith is legal and which is illegal?

In the American system set up by our Founding Fathers there is room for all faiths, but only room for one logic. That is why equality of individual rights constantly grows and cannot be stopped. The logic of privileged rights always fails over time.

In retaliation, the gay community organized a nationwide boycott against orange juice. They started drinking "Anita Bryants" (vodka and apple juice) instead of screwdrivers. Bryant learned another harsh lesson that America constantly learns and forgets: that money speaks louder to business than ideals. With industry sales hurting, her contract with the Florida Citrus Commission was quietly declined when it came up for renewal.

Her life has been a descending skid ever since that peak, with a few upswings, mostly homophobic ones, before continuing on her downward path. She had the world in the palm of her hand and she threw it all away on the false promise of dogma. This woman was not trying to be evil. She thought she was fighting for the good. She simply used faith in the wrong manner.

A society based on individual rights means that if you want to practice faith when it conflicts with reason, practice it on your own life. Nothing but reason can ever give you the moral right to enforce your ideas on others. For people like Anita Bryant who wish to impose their ideas on others, there are plenty of reason-based ideas to choose from, say, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as starters.

Nothing sums up what any dogma-based attempt to violate the rights of others deserves as well as a pie in the face, as one Aron Kay performed in the late 70’s.



Even in light of the current gay marriage controversy raging across the nation, nothing helps move an issue forward like the success of individuals. Like Harvey Milk’s success. And like the upcoming success of the movie about him. I can't wait to see it.

As for Anita Bryant, who's afraid of her anymore?