Anita Jane Bryant (March 25, 1940 – December 16, 2024) was an American singer and a Christian activist against gay rights in the United States.

In 1977, she ran the Save Our Children campaign to repeal a local ordinance in Miami-Dade County, Florida, that outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

She sang occasionally on radio and television, and was invited to audition when Arthur Godfrey's talent show came to town, eventually winning the contest.

[citation needed] Her second album, Hear Anita Bryant in Your Home Tonight (1961), contains "Paper Roses" and "Wonderland by Night", as well as several songs that first appeared in her singles.

[citation needed] In 1964, she released The World of Lonely People, containing, in addition to the title song, "Welcome, Welcome Home" and a new rendition of "Little Things Mean a Lot", arranged by Frank Hunter.

"[13] Bryant sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" during the half-time show of Super Bowl V in 1971, and at the graveside services for President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973.

[18] In 1977, Dade County, Florida, passed an ordinance sponsored by Bryant's former friend Ruth Shack that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

[2] The singer was especially concerned about the fact that the ordinance risked authorizing homosexual people to work in Christian schools and become role-models, because her own children were enrolled there.

"[21][page needed] She also said, "All America and all the world will hear what the people have said, and with God's continued help we will prevail in our fight to repeal similar laws throughout the nation.

[21][page needed][13] Gay bars all over North America stopped serving screwdrivers[27] and replaced them with the "Anita Bryant Cocktail", which was made with vodka and apple juice.

[21][page needed] The ban was overturned more than 30 years later when, on November 25, 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Cindy S. Lederman declared it unconstitutional.

[2] While covered in pie after the assault, she began to pray to God to forgive the activist "for his deviant lifestyle" before bursting into tears as the cameras continued rolling.

[28][page needed] By this time, gay activists ensured that the boycott on Florida orange juice had become more prominent and it was supported by many celebrities, including Jane Fonda[28][page needed], Paul Williams,[34] and Vincent Price (he joked in a television interview that Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance referred to her).

[28][page needed] In 1998, the Miami-Dade County Commission reinstated the ordinance protecting individuals from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, by a narrow 7–6 vote.

[16] Even earlier in February 1977, the Singer Corporation rescinded an offer to sponsor an upcoming weekly variety show because of the "extensive national publicity arising from [Bryant's] controversial political activities.

[39] Bryant's marriage to Bob Green also failed at that time; she divorced him in 1980, citing emotional abuse and latent suicidal thoughts.

[40][page needed][41] Green refused to accept this, claiming his fundamentalist religious beliefs did not recognize civil divorce and that "in God's eyes", she was still his wife.

"[45] In a 2012 interview, her son Robert Green, Jr. said "she would be putting a lot more energy into fighting gay rights if she still felt as strongly.

"[46] Bryant appeared in Michael Moore's 1989 documentary film Roger & Me, in which she is interviewed and travels to Flint, Michigan, as part of the effort to help revitalize its devastated local economy.

The establishment combined Bryant's performances of her successful songs from early in her career with a "lengthy segment in which she preached her Christian beliefs".

The venture was not successful and the Music Mansion, which had missed meeting payrolls at times, filed for bankruptcy in 2001 with Bryant and Dry leaving several employees and creditors unpaid.

[49] Bryant also spent part of the 1990s in Branson, Missouri, where the state and federal governments both filed liens claiming more than $116,000 in unpaid taxes.

"[16] In 2021, Bryant's granddaughter came out publicly on an episode of Slate's One Year podcast series by announcing her pending marriage to a woman, although she was having difficulty deciding whether she should invite her grandmother to the ceremony.

[58][59] California punk rock band Dead Kennedys referenced Bryant in their song "Moral Majority" from their 1981 EP In God We Trust, Inc.[60] In 1977, the Dutch levenslied singer Zangeres Zonder Naam wrote the protest song "Luister Anita" ("Listen Up, Anita") on the occasion of the protest night "Miami Nightmare", organized in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

The nightly concert was intended to raise funds for an advertisement in Time, in which the Dutch nation was to call on the American people to protect the rights of minorities.

In the song, Zangeres Zonder Naam compared Anita Bryant to Hitler and called on gays to fight for their rights.

[62] Armistead Maupin, in his 1980 novel More Tales of the City, used Anita Bryant's "Save Our Children" campaign to prompt a principal character to come out of the closet.

[67] Her name was also a frequent punchline on The Gong Show, such as the time host/producer Chuck Barris joked that Bryant was releasing a new Christmas album called Gay Tidings.

(1980), Leslie Nielsen's character, upon seeing a large number of passengers become violently ill, vomit, and have uncontrollable flatulence, remarked: "I haven't seen anything like this since the Anita Bryant concert.

[74] In May 2013, producers announced plans for a biographical HBO film based on Bryant's life to star Uma Thurman, with a script from gay screenwriter Chad Hodge.