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Anita Bryant They used to call her "America's Sweetheart." This former Miss America contender from Oklahoma was known to millions as the sweet, wholesome TV spokesmodel for Florida orange juice. But in 1977, a lot of folks decided Anita wasn't that damned sweet anymore after she spearheaded a movement to overturn a gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. She claimed she had God on her side as she denounced the evils of homosexuality. Then she took her campaign to other cities. She became a national pariah and acquired a new moniker: "Hurricane Anita." She lost her endorsement deals, and she stopped getting invitations to speak or perform. The money was no longer rolling in. Then her 20-year perfect marriage fell apart. Even the Southern Baptist Convention snubbed her in 1978 when she ran for first vice president. She lost two-to-one. By the early 1980s, we rarely heard from her. She even considered suicide. Today, she and her new husband run the Anita Bryant Theater in Branson, Missouri, the entertainment capital of the Bible Belt. She performs over 10 shows a week. Her husband says she doesn't have a thing against gay folks. They even have a gay couple in their theater, and he and Anita don't even bug them about it. Anita said her 1970s crusade was intended to protect her children from exposure to gay teachers. Oh, no, she was never anti-gay. No, her policy had always been live and let live. In 1994 she recorded a cassette of gospel music called "I Am What I Am". She said that when she wrote the title song, she had never heard of Jerry Herman's "I Am What I Am", a show-stopping number in the Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles. Herman's tune is sung by a drag queen who boldly proclaims her self-pride. |
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