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data-activy-map="social-share-lks-article-top" data-ttid="social-share-menu"><li data-ttid="social-share-facebook" class="styl_em__b5A78 styl_facebook__bOW_X"><a href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="styl_lk__RsJVU"><span class="in in-share-facebook"></span></a></li><li data-ttid="social-share-twter" class="styl_em__b5A78 styl_twter__ww7sF"><a href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="styl_lk__RsJVU"><span class="in in-twter"></span></a></li><li data-ttid="social-share-ptert" class="styl_em__b5A78 styl_ptert__CaMm1"><a href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="styl_lk__RsJVU"><span class="in in-share-ptert"></span></a></li><li data-ttid="social-share-email" class="styl_em__b5A78"><a href="mailto:?subject=Ana Bryant’s s-old 'Save Our Children' mpaign rgs faiar Florida& target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="styl_lk__RsJVU"><span class="in in-share-email"></span></a></li><li data-ttid="social-share-py" class="styl_em__b5A78 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class="article-le-byle" data-activy-map="le-byle-article-top">By <span class="byle-name"><a href=">Jillian Eugens</a></span></div></sectn><div class="article-body__ntent article-body-font--loadg"><p class="">At a public hearg Da County, Florida, parents were enraged. The natn, they said, was peril and children were at risk. A recent ordance had granted gay people hog and employment protectns, and that meant teachers uldn’t be fired bee of their sexualy. Florida classrooms quickly beme a battleground, and opponents of the ordance said the state’s support of civil rights for homosexuals was gg on their rights as parents. </p><p class="">Actn had to be taken, and a mpaign to lim the legal rights of LGBTQ people — all the name of protectg children — was enacted. A woman who spoke at this hearg said was her right to ntrol “the moral atmosphere which my children grow up.” That woman was Ana Bryant, formerly Miss Oklahoma and a whe, telegenic, Top 40 sger <a href=">who was well known for her Florida orange juice mercials</a> (“A day whout orange juice is like a day whout sunshe!” she’d say). Bryant spearhead an anti-LGBTQ mpaign of such impact that s echo n be heard today’s rhetoric. The year was 1977.</p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><div id="taboolaReadMoreBelow"></div><p class="">Last month, nearly half a century after Bryant’s “Save Our Children” mpaign, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights Edutn bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by s opponents. The measure, which tak effect July 1, prohibs classroom stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty “krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age-appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state standards.” Siar bills are beg nsired 19 other stat, acrdg to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ thk tank that has been trackg the bills.</p><figure class="styl_leImage__yAWZ0 styl_medium__OMa6x"><picture class="styl_image__1qciH"><source media="(m-width: 1000px)" srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><source srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><img loadg="lazy" src=" alt="Gov. Ron DeSantis shows an image om the children's book" height="1667" width="2500"/></picture><figptn class="ptn styl_ptn__Pe5JC"><span class="ptn__ntaer">Gov. Ron DeSantis shows an image om the children's book "Call Me Max" by transgenr thor Kyle Loff before signg the Parental Rights Edutn bill Shady Hills, Fla. on March 28.</span><span class="ptn__source">Douglas R. Clifford / Tampa Bay Tim via AP file</span></figptn></figure><p class="">Advot of Florida’s bill say s purpose is to allow parents to ci how and when LGBTQ topics are troduced to their children. Opponents say hurts the very children advot are tryg to protect. Sam Am, director of advocy and ernment affairs at The Trevor Project, a queer youth advocy group, <a href=">said a statement</a> that the bill will “erase young LGBTQ stunts across Florida, forcg many back to the closet by policg their inty and silencg important discsns about the issu they face.” </p><p class="">Historians say they’ve seen this before. </p><p class="">“It’s a ntemporary versn on the olr attempts to annul homosexualy,” said <a href=">Lillian Farman</a>, thor of “The Gay Revolutn,” among other queer history tl.</p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">“In the prent environment, you n’t go after homosexual teachers anymore,” Farman said. “We have too many alli. And so Florida has found another way to do by this ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which don’t go after homosexual teachers precisely. But the ia is the same. That is, that homosexualy is a pariah stat, and shouldn’t be discsed the public schools.” </p><figure class="styl_leImage__yAWZ0 styl_medium__OMa6x"><picture class="styl_image__1qciH"><source media="(m-width: 1000px)" srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><source srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><img loadg="lazy" src=" alt="Ana Bryant" height="1650" width="2500"/></picture><figptn class="ptn styl_ptn__Pe5JC"><span class="ptn__ntaer">Sger-turned-polil activist Ana Bryant speaks at a news nference Miami Beach, Fla. on June 7, 1977.</span><span class="ptn__source">Bettmann via Getty Imag file</span></figptn></figure><p class="">When Bryant began her mpaign 1977, she had four children, and often said she was speakg as a mother and a Christian. And while the villaizatn of LGBTQ people was not new, Bryant took the ia of protectg children and ma mastream. Her mpaign and the subsequent “Save Our Children” polil aln ed the argument that “homosexuals nnot reproduce, so they mt rec. And to hen their ranks, they mt rec the youth of Ameri.” </p><p class="">Bryant’s foc on the ia that LGBTQ people were threateng to children created a talkg pot that social nservativ were able to rally around and promote to their iends and neighbors. Bryant paired this wh her Christian fah, tellg <a href=">Playboy</a> magaze 1978 that her posn “was not taken out of homophobia, but out of love” for gay people. When a gay activist threw a pie her face durg a news nference, she immediately prayed for the man to be “livered om his viant liftyle.”</p><sectn class="embed-widget embedWidget embed-widget--medium"><div class="embed-widget__e-prentatn embed-widget__iamely-youtube" style="--iame-height:0px"><div><div class="iamely-youtube iamely-player iamely-embed"><div class="iamely-rponsive" style="paddg-bottom: 75%;"><iame data-src=" loadg="lazy" src="//" allowfullscreen scrollg="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-wre *; encrypted-media *; gyrospe *; picture--picture *;"></iame></div></div></div></div></sectn><p class="">“Deviance” was part of Bryant’s re argument that homosexualy was evil and that LGBTQ people didn’t serve rights. To award them nondiscrimatn protectn was to offer them a kd of special privilege. If we label homosexualy a civil rights issue, what is to stop “<a href=">the murrer om shoutg ‘murrer rights’”?</a> Bryant wrote her 1977 book, “The Ana Bryant Story: The Survival of Our Natn’s Fai and the Threat of Milant Homosexualy.”</p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">Bryant’s work rulted the repeal of the Da County nondiscrimatn ordance, by a more than 2-to-1 marg, a voter referendum. Its repeal ed a backlash other stat that had passed siar ordanc, and Bryant’s fame grew. She took her msage across the untry, and for the next three years was named “The Most Admired Woman Ameri” Good Hoekeepg’s annual poll.</p><p class="">While Bryant fueled the ia that gays were harmful to children, the blueprt for this type of rhetoric had been laid nearly 20 years before, also the state of Florida.</p><sectn class="le-vio le-vio---body"><div class="le-vio__background"><div class="le-vio__player"><div class="vioPlayer styl_vioPlayer__bL8AJ styl_adNotPlayg__Q51_C styl_alignDktopBottom__4cHaO styl_alignMobileBottom__bhgkQ"><div class="vioSlate"><a href=" class="allowClicksOnPreview"><picture class=""><source media="(m-width: 1240px)" srcSet="><source media="(m-width: 758px)" srcSet="><img loadg="lazy" src="></picture></a><div class="playButtonOuter absolute absolute-fill w100 dn-prt"><div class="absolute absolute-fill w100 df ems-center ems-center-m jtify-center jtify-center-m"><div class="play le-vio__play-button"><svg class="play--in" xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 15 15" prerveAspectRat="xMidYMid" style="max-width:30px"><path d="M0 0v15l15-7.41z" fill-le="evenodd"></path></svg></div></div></div></div><div id="137664581787"></div></div></div></div><div class="le-vio__"><h2 class="le-vio__tle"><a href=">1977: Ana Bryant vot to repeal Da County’s gay rights law</a></h2><span class="le-vio__tail"><span>June 7, 1977</span><span>01:17</span></span><div class="styl_share__n3Syu le-vio__share dn-prt"><div class="styl_shareExpanr__hVk8d le-vio__share-expanr styl_hoverEffect___Dj4s"><span class="styl_shareDot__9pfRZ le-vio__share-dot"></span><svg class="styl_shareClose__6BZxR le-vio__share-close" viewBox="0 0 15 15"><le class="styl_shareLe__EJUjO" x1="0" x2="15" y1="0" y2="15"></le><le class="styl_shareLe__EJUjO" x1="0" x2="15" y1="15" y2="0"></le></svg></div><div class="styl_shareList___M8wC le-vio__share-list"><a href=" class="styl_shareLk__gSGN3" target="_blank" rel="noopen noreferrer"><span class="in in-facebook styl_shareIn__lVnRm le-vio__share-in"></span></a><a href=" class="styl_shareLk__gSGN3" target="_blank" rel="noopen noreferrer"><span class="in in-twter styl_shareIn__lVnRm le-vio__share-in"></span></a><a href="mailto:?subject=1977: Ana Bryant vot to repeal Da County’s gay rights law& class="styl_shareLk__gSGN3" target="_blank" rel="noopen noreferrer"><span class="in in-email styl_shareIn__lVnRm le-vio__share-in"></span></a></div></div></div></sectn><p class="">The Florida Legislative Invtigatn Commtee (monly referred to as the Johns Commtee, after Charley Johns, s first chairman) was tablished 1956, and was born out of opposn to the segregatn of schools and the pursu of “munists.” The mtee first targeted the NAACP but was stopped by the Supreme Court. The mtee then turned to vtigatg alleged munists Florida schools, but was stopped by the Amerin Associatn of Universy Profsors. They need a new target, and the fall of 1958, the mtee began to vtigate — and elimate — LGBTQ people om Florida schools. There was no urt and no associatn to protect them. The mtee was well-fund by taxpayer dollars. School prcipals and universy prints operated. </p><div class="remend-tersectn-ref" data-activy-map="remend-article-body-remend"></div><p class="">“Charley Johns’s argument was that of, the homosexuals are pervertg our youth bee they’re teachg our youth llege, and high school, and elementary school, and we have to get rid of them so they won’t turn young people to homosexuals,” Farman said. From 1958 to 1965, hundreds — if not thoands — of stunts and teachers were targeted, wh many losg their livelihoods. </p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">Though the mtee was terred om s vtigatn to the NAACP, s roots opposn to segregatn and s evolutn om racist opposn to homophobic opprsn is clear, historians say. </p><p class="">“The Christian right really together on enforcg segregatn the 1960s. It’s about anti-Black racism; that’s largely where starts. And they’ve h on this ia that they’re protectg children and tn,” said Hugh Ryan, a historian and thor of “When Brooklyn Was Queer.” “They realize that this works, that this is the issue that will create a ‘polil moral majory.’” </p><p class="">By the time we get to Ana Bryant 1977, Ryan said, “they’ve already realized that they n harns this polil nservatism and attach to relign by talkg about the fay.” </p><h2 class=""><strong>Bryant 'won the battle' but lost 'the war'</strong></h2><p class="">Though the Da County ordance was repealed, opposn to the bill led to a kd of LGBTQ activism that had not been prevly seen South Florida. </p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">“The thg to remember is that Ana Bryant won that battle ially, but she did not w that war,” said the historian Jul Capó Jr., a native Floridian, who wrote “Wele to Fairyland: Queer Miami Before 1940.”  </p><p class="">He said Bryant advertently spurred a mobilizatn and a movement. </p><p class="">“It was transformative,” Capó said. “It got people to see themselv as a votg bloc. It got them to see that their very existence and their rights were very much unr attack a different way than we had seen the prr.” </p><sectn class="le-vio le-vio---body"><div class="le-vio__background"><div class="le-vio__player"><div class="vioPlayer styl_vioPlayer__bL8AJ styl_adNotPlayg__Q51_C styl_alignDktopBottom__4cHaO styl_alignMobileBottom__bhgkQ"><div class="vioSlate"><a href=" class="allowClicksOnPreview"><picture class=""><source media="(m-width: 1240px)" srcSet="><source media="(m-width: 758px)" srcSet="><img loadg="lazy" src="></picture></a><div class="playButtonOuter absolute absolute-fill w100 dn-prt"><div class="absolute absolute-fill w100 df ems-center ems-center-m jtify-center jtify-center-m"><div class="play le-vio__play-button"><svg class="play--in" xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 15 15" prerveAspectRat="xMidYMid" style="max-width:30px"><path d="M0 0v15l15-7.41z" fill-le="evenodd"></path></svg></div></div></div></div><div id="137664069755"></div></div></div></div><div class="le-vio__"><h2 class="le-vio__tle"><a href=">1977: After victory at polls, Ana Bryant discs takg anti-gay mpaign on the road</a></h2><span class="le-vio__tail"><span>June 8, 1977</span><span>01:18</span></span><div class="styl_share__n3Syu le-vio__share dn-prt"><div class="styl_shareExpanr__hVk8d le-vio__share-expanr styl_hoverEffect___Dj4s"><span class="styl_shareDot__9pfRZ le-vio__share-dot"></span><svg class="styl_shareClose__6BZxR le-vio__share-close" viewBox="0 0 15 15"><le class="styl_shareLe__EJUjO" x1="0" x2="15" y1="0" y2="15"></le><le class="styl_shareLe__EJUjO" x1="0" x2="15" y1="15" y2="0"></le></svg></div><div class="styl_shareList___M8wC le-vio__share-list"><a href=" class="styl_shareLk__gSGN3" target="_blank" rel="noopen noreferrer"><span class="in in-facebook styl_shareIn__lVnRm le-vio__share-in"></span></a><a href=" class="styl_shareLk__gSGN3" target="_blank" rel="noopen noreferrer"><span class="in in-twter styl_shareIn__lVnRm le-vio__share-in"></span></a><a href="mailto:?subject=1977: After victory at polls, Ana Bryant discs takg anti-gay mpaign on the road& class="styl_shareLk__gSGN3" target="_blank" rel="noopen noreferrer"><span class="in in-email styl_shareIn__lVnRm le-vio__share-in"></span></a></div></div></div></sectn><p class="">The activism spread om Da County and across the untry, phg agast Bryant’s own “Christian csa,” as she lled . In 1977, the -executive directors of the Natnal Gay Task Force wrote a thank you <a href="> The New York Tim</a> to Bryant and her Save Our Children anizatn, sayg they were “dog the 20 ln lbians and gay men Ameri an enormo favor: They are focg for the public the nature of the prejudice and discrimatn we face.” </p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">Though Bryant did enjoy some addnal years of fame, her anti-gay rhetoric ultimately ed her reer prospects to plummet. Her bookg agent dropped her, the Florida Cs Commissn stopped nng her orange juice ads and she filed for bankptcy — twice. The anti-discrimatn ordance she helped repeal 1977 <a href=">was rtored 1998</a>.</p><p class="">And today, even though state legislators ntue to chip away at LGBTQ rights, same-sex marriage is legal across the untry and feral law prohibs anti-LGBTQ discrimatn the workplace.</p><figure class="styl_leImage__yAWZ0 styl_medium__OMa6x"><picture class="styl_image__1qciH"><source media="(m-width: 1000px)" srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><source srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><img loadg="lazy" src=" alt="Image: People celebrate ont of the Supreme Court after the lg favor of same-sex marriage June 26, 2015." height="1667" width="2500"/></picture><figptn class="ptn styl_ptn__Pe5JC"><span class="ptn__ntaer">People celebrate ont of the Supreme Court after the lg favor of same-sex marriage on June 26, 2015.</span><span class="ptn__source">Mark Wilson / Getty Imag file</span></figptn></figure><p class="">Though the tim have changed signifintly sce Bryant’s heyday the late ‘70s, appears her views have not. In 2021, Bryant’s granddghter Sarah Green <a href=">told Slate</a> that she me out to her grandmother on her 21st birthday. Bryant reportedly rpond by sayg homosexualy isn’t real. </p><p class="">“It’s very hard to argue wh someone who thks that an tegral part of your inty is jt an evil ln,” Green said. Green, <a href=">who clarified to </a><a href="><em></em></a> that she is bisexual, told Slate about her upg weddg to her fiancée, a woman, and said she wasn’t sure if her grandmother would be attendg.  </p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">“I jt kd of feel bad for her,” Green add. “And I thk as much as she hop that I will figure thgs out and e back to God, I kd of hope that she’ll figure thgs out.”</p><div class="remend-tersectn-ref" data-activy-map="remend-article-body-remend"></div><p class="">Bryant, now 82, no longer liv Florida. She returned to her home state of Oklahoma and ns Ana Bryant Mistri Internatnal. Neher Bryant nor Green rpond to requts for ment. </p><p class="endmark"><strong><em>Follow </em></strong><a href="><strong><em>NBC Out</em></strong></a><strong><em> on </em></strong><a href="><strong><em>Twter</em></strong></a><strong><em>, </em></strong><a href="><strong><em>Facebook</em></strong></a><strong><em> & </em></strong><a href="><strong><em>Instagram</em></strong></a></p><div class="expand-byle-ntributors articleByleContaer"><div class="expand-byle article-expand-byle" data-activy-map="expand-byle-article-bottom"><span class="byle-thumbnail byle-thumbnail--no-image expand-byle__thumbnail"></span><span class="byle-name expand-byle__name"><a href=">Jillian Eugens</a></span><span class="byle-social expand-byle__social"><a href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="byle-social--lk"><span class="in in-twter"></span></a></span><div class="expand-byle__b-wrapper"><p class="byle-b expand-byle__b">Jillian Eugens is a wrer and filmmaker New York Cy.</p></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body--right-rail-ntaer"><div class="article-body__right-rail layout-grid-em grid-l-4_5-l grid-l-3_5-xl grid-l-ph-half-xl"><div class="ad article-body__right-rail--ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxrail" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[[300,250],[360,360]]],[[758,1],[]],[[0,0],[]]]" data-offset="10" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="body-bottom-remend"><div class="ad ad--midrponsive ad-ntaer dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="midrponsive" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[[700,1],[5,5]]],[[758,1],[]],[[0,0],[]]]" data-offset="300" data-reh-terval="0" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te"></div></div></div></div></div></article></div></div><div id="hfs-footer" class="dn-prt" data-activy-map="hfs-footer"><footer class="hfsf" ><div class="ner"><div class="logo"><a href="><svg class="peack" viewBox="578 62 67 39" xmlns=" fill="currentColor"><g fill-le="evenodd"><path d="M579.074 90.58c1.717-4.494 6.472-6.08 10.697-3.37l18.29 12.754h-22.18c-4.62 0-8.252-4.23-6.8-9.385"></path><path class="feather" d="M579.074 90.58c1.717-4.494 6.472-6.08 10.697-3.37l18.29 12.754h-22.18c-4.62 0-8.252-4.23-6.8-9.385"></path><path class="feather" d="M597.563 75.863l9.442 21.613-19.478-13.35c-4.887-3.24-3.896-8.79-1.19-11.237 3.83-3.24 9.245-2.12 11.226 2.97"></path><path class="feather" d="M610.57 70.93l-3.433 24.19-9.772-23c-2.113-5.75 2.64-9.516 5.81-9.583 3.632-.396 8.188 2.38 7.396 8.394"></path><path class="feather" d="M625.494 72.103l-9.707 23.067-3.102-20.82c-.265-3.17 1.716-3.237 2.443-3.832-.133-.463-1.124-.463-1.124-.463h-1.848c-.198-5.42 4.028-7.8 7.462-7.535 3.697.132 7.856 4.428 5.876 9.583"></path><path class="feather" d="M635.338 84.167L615.86 97.584l9.177-21.348c2.775-6.742 9.245-5.42 11.556-2.842 2.51 2.51 3.235 7.6-1.255 10.773"></path><path class="feather" d="M637.448 99.9h-22.515l18.29-12.756c4.49-2.975 9.244-.266 10.498 3.635 1.327 4.36-1.65 9.12-6.27 9.12"></path></g></svg></a></div><nav class="lks"><ul class="lks__wrap" data-l-2="14" data-l-3=15><li><a href=" target="_self">About</a></li><li><a href=" target="_self">Contact</a></li><li><a href=">Help</a></li><li><a href=">Careers</a></li><li><a href=" target="_blank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ad Choic</a></li><li><a href=" target="_blank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Privacy Policy</a></li><li><a href=" target="_blank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Do Not Sell My Personal Informatn</a></li><li><a href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CA Notice</a></li><li><a href=">New Terms of Service (Updated JULY 7, 2023)</a></li><li><a href=">NBC News Semap</a></li><li><a href=">Advertise</a></li><li><a href=" target="_self">Select Shoppg</a></li><li><a href=" target="_self">Select Personal Fance</a></li></ul></nav><div class="py"><p>© 2023 NBC UNIVERSAL</p><div class="brands"><a href="><svg viewBox="0 0 120 20" fill="none" xmlns=" aria-labelledby="nbc_news_logo"><tle class="nbc_news_logo">NBC News Logo

bryant gay

The Save Our Children mpaign by 1970s Christian csar Ana Bryant laid the groundwork for Florida's Don't Say Gay bill and the state's LGBTQ culture war.

Contents:

'IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME FOR THIS:' BRYAN RUBY BE ONLY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO BE OUT AS GAY

* bryant gay *

Florida classrooms quickly beme a battleground, and opponents of the ordance said the state’s support of civil rights for homosexuals was gg on their rights as parents. “It’s a ntemporary versn on the olr attempts to annul homosexualy, ” said Lillian Farman, thor of “The Gay Revolutn, ” among other queer history tl.

Bryant paired this wh her Christian fah, tellg Playboy magaze 1978 that her posn “was not taken out of homophobia, but out of love” for gay people.

She took her msage across the untry, and for the next three years was named “The Most Admired Woman Ameri” Good Hoekeepg’s annual Bryant fueled the ia that gays were harmful to children, the blueprt for this type of rhetoric had been laid nearly 20 years before, also the state of Florida Legislative Invtigatn Commtee (monly referred to as the Johns Commtee, after Charley Johns, s first chairman) was tablished 1956, and was born out of opposn to the segregatn of schools and the pursu of “munists. “Charley Johns’s argument was that of, the homosexuals are pervertg our youth bee they’re teachg our youth llege, and high school, and elementary school, and we have to get rid of them so they won’t turn young people to homosexuals, ” Farman said.

IS BILL BRYANT GAY?

Is Bill Bryant Gay? Come and unver what has been said lately about this and what's Bill Bryant sayg about this. * bryant gay *

Though the mtee was terred om s vtigatn to the NAACP, s roots opposn to segregatn and s evolutn om racist opposn to homophobic opprsn is clear, historians say. In 1977, the -executive directors of the Natnal Gay Task Force wrote a thank you The New York Tim to Bryant and her Save Our Children anizatn, sayg they were “dog the 20 ln lbians and gay men Ameri an enormo favor: They are focg for the public the nature of the prejudice and discrimatn we face. Yet 's Ruby's hidn part of his inty that he now believ n have the biggt impact, partially bee 's so foreign to the worlds of baseball and untry is a gay man, the only active profsnal baseball player at any level to be publicly out.

" FOLLOW THE MONEY: MLB player salari and payrolls for every major league teamHis g out follows a summer which Las Vegas Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib and Nashville Predators prospect Le Prokop also me out as gay. “As a untry mic songwrer, at first I thought beg gay was a huge weakns, ” said Ruby, who will be showsed the upg documentary, "Out Nashville.

"It's not all super rosy, " Ruby ach om past generatns have been subtly homophobic, urgg him to keep his sexual orientatn a secret or to be wh a woman to keep up a ont. Gehrig Richs, the Volno' assistant ach, said he imag teammat beg protective of Ruby if gay slurs were to persist once he's out publicly. As much as some voic the field of munitn and ter have speculated if Bill Bryant is gay, there is no kd of evince that n rroborate this.

WHEN REAGAN SAID GAY

In the 1970s the Republin Party tried to muzzle gay inty.  * bryant gay *

Karabaic [narratn]: But Rose is sred wh the recent uptick vlence agast the LGBTQ+ I live fear that somebody, well, we’ve seen [people] go to the gay bars and shoot them up, you know? It’s jt sort of weird, and prottg drag showsWe gaed so much, the past s, people unrstandg who gay people are and people beg more fortable. And now ’s kd of turng were aware of of beg gay and beg different, but aga, that was not somethg that was really talked about among other people.

And nowadays ’s somethg that you n talk about openly wh other people and not beg embarrassed about , or not have a fear of beg rejected or beg discrimated gay people that are out now have been out for a long time and they’re not gog to be gog back . “She would not stop talkg about the right man g along, and I jt snapped, ” Green said, addg that she told her grandmother: 'I hope that he don't e along, bee I'm gay, and I don't want a man to e along. She lnched her notor “Save Our Children” mpaign rponse to a historic 1977 gay rights ordance Da County, Fla., which ma one of the first unti to ban employment and hog discrimatn based on sexual ’s mpaign adopted the mantra, “Homosexuals nnot reproduce, so they mt rec, ” champng relig pury and aimg to protect children om supposed anti-Christian valu.

HARRY BRANT WIKI, GAY, BOYIEND, DGS, CSE OF DEATH, GIRLIEND, NET WORTH, PARENTS, OBUARY, INSTAGRAM

The pop sger who created a new brand of nservative activism, and the gay activists who fought back. * bryant gay *

But on a more posive note, a prott agast Bryant 1977 also beme a timels symbol of queer rilience: While speakg to reporters at a D Mo, Iowa prs nference about her anti-gay csa, activist Tom Higgs famoly pied her the face.

Dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by crics, the legislatn would mandate that “classroom stctn by school personnel or third parti on sexual orientatn or genr inty may not occur krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state standards.

ANA BRYANT’S WAR ON GAY RIGHTS

Sarah Green said on the "One Year" podst that her grandmother believ beg gay is wrong. As she plans her weddg, she bat vg her. * bryant gay *

”By permtg parents to sue school districts that fail to enforce s vague provisns, the act would effectively bar classroom discsn and dividual exprsn on a wi range of subjects not necsarily limed to homosexualy and genr inty. Gay stunts and the children of same-sex upl, for stance, would likely be hibed om talkg about their liv, and teachers uld face the wrath of angry parents simply for discsg historil events volvg gay people, such as the adly 2016 attack on a gay nightclub bill’s proponents sist that the measure has nothg to do wh harmg the digny of gay dividuals but rather is aimed at ensurg age-appropriate sexual tn.

In 1988 the Brish Parliament passed a measure preventg lol thori om “promotg homosexualy” or “the teachg any mataed school of the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship. Ten years later, the Rsian Duma unanimoly passed legislatn “for the purpose of protectg children om rmatn advotg for a nial of tradnal fay valu” prohibg the dissematn of “propaganda” of nontradnal sexual Asenc-Rhe/Tampa Bay Tim, via Associated PrsWhile brandg gay people as child molters has been a staple of right-wg rhetoric around the world, there has long existed a stra of Amerin libertarian nservatism that ems the legal enshrement of such prejudic as an vasn of privacy and a dangero enhancement of state power. ”Much like the current Florida bill, the Briggs Iniative was ambiguoly word, such that would have permted the firg of not jt gay teachers but also anyone who spoke out on their behalf.

HISTORY OF THE ANTI-GAY MOVEMENT SCE 1977

The measure was part of a natnal backlash agast the advancement of gay rights that began the prev year wh a mpaign by the Florida Cs Commissn spokwoman and gospel sger Ana Bryant to repeal an ordance Miami’s Da County that prohibed discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn. A Field poll published September 1978 found 61 percent of California voters supported banng gay teachers, a figure nsistent wh natnal proponents of Proposn 6 lookg at what seemed like an unobstcted path to victory, those opposn wonred what one of the state’s most popular Republins, s former ernor Ronald Reagan, thought about the measure. After takg a beatg the prs, he eventually admted to firg the ais and publicly lled homosexualy a “tragic illns” that “should rema illegal.

Reagan, wh his Hollywood background, was more faiar wh gay people than the average Amerin and that the former actor was an advote for limed ernment and dividual rights.

Reagan’s own language: “Anarchy, ” he told the former ernor, who had ed that word to scribe mp unrt at Berkeley, would be unleashed classrooms statewi as stunts lodged spur charg of homosexualy agast their teachers. ” He ma a more substantive se his syndited lumn published a week before the electn, refutg the claim that gays had a greater propensy to be child molters and the nard that they joed the teachg profsn to rec imprsnable Electn Day, voters rejected Proposn 6, 58 percent to 42 percent, a nearly exact reversal of what the polls dited jt two months earlier.

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Reagan monstrated regard to gay teachers was sorely lackg durg his princy, when he spent years ignorg the AIDS crisis, refg even to mentn the name of the disease killg thoands of gay men until his send Ms.

THE GRANDDGHTER OF A NOTOR ANTI-GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST IS MARRYG A WOMAN — AND SHE'S NOT SURE WHETHER TO VE HER GRANDMOTHER TO THE WEDDG

Bryant’s nox Save Our Children mpaign of the late 1970s, today’s effort at stigmatizg gay people fds popular backg, wh some 51 percent of Amerins supportg laws to ban classroom discsns of sexual orientatn. But moral panics, by fn, eventually lose their steam, and Republins of nscience should not let the passns of the moment overwhelm their stated mments to dividual rights, personal privacy and limed Kirchick is the thor of the forthg book “Secret Cy: The Hidn History of Gay Washgton.

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Barts beach ed a stir 2011, he reportedly wrote on Facebook, “…We have nothg to hi and wh that md I would like to say that I am openly gay. History-md queers probably already know the broad strok: she was a mol and sger of some kd, and eventually an orange juice spokmol, and then an anti-gay activist at a time when you uld still do that sort of thg. There wasn’t much anized ristance to gay liberatn the 1970s, so when queers and alli got a ltle polil power they were able to enact some protectns.

WILL FAMO ANTI-GAY ANA BRYANT ATTEND LBIAN GRANDKID’S WEDDG?

But even though Ameri didn’t have an anti-gay astcture yet, did have a prevailg cultural prejudice, and didn’t take much effort to whip cizens up to a panic about perverts.

Ana gave the gay muny an opportuny to speak up and fight back, and a populatn that ed to be quiet and avoidant beme electrified wh new activism. Granddghter Sarah Green talked about her relatnship wh the notor antigay csar on a recent episo of Slate's podst One Year, hosted by Josh Lev and focg on 1977, a year when the natn seemed on the verge of great change.

THE GRANDDGHTER OF A NOTOR ANTI-GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST IS MARRYG A WOMAN - AND SHE'S NOT SURE WHETHER TO VE HER GRANDMOTHER TO THE WEDDG

Bryant, a bety queen and pop sger, was a spokwoman for Florida orange growers the 1970s when she gaed new fame wh her opposn to gay rights. Bryant, who had ttified agast the ordance, was outraged at s passage and led a mpaign dubbed "Save Our Children" to persua voters to repeal the way, Bryant beme a darlg of her fellow nservative Christians and an enemy of gay people and their alli; at one pot, an activist threw a pie her face. The cy-unty ernment rtored the ordance 1998 and add genr inty to episo als wh the fight over gay rights Miami-Da generally and Bryant's csa agast the ordance.

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History of the Anti-Gay Movement Sce 1977 | Southern Poverty Law Center .

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