Anita Bryant, the antigay crusader, is dead https://t.co/PHh6PP9xpd
— The Advocate (@TheAdvocateMag) January 10, 2025
Anita Bryant, the evangelical Christian who led a charge against LGBTQ+ rights, died on December 16, 2024 at the age of 84, according to an obituary shared by her family.
Bryant, born in Oklahoma in 1940, was a beauty queen and a best-selling pop star before returning to her Christian roots in the 1970s.
She became an anti-gay activist in 1977 when she led a campaign dubbed “Save Our Children” to persuade voters to repeal an ordinance that banned employment and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation put in place by Miami-Dade County’s government. Her activism also inspired a ban on adoption by same-sex couples in Florida.
While she did succeed in getting the anti-discrimination ordinance overturned, it was restored in 1998 and protections for gender identity were added to it in 2014. The ban on same-sex couples adopting was struck down in 2010.
Outside Florida, she backed California’s Briggs Initiative in 1978; the ballot measure sought to bar gays and lesbians from teaching in the public schools. It failed to win a majority of the vote.
Bryant is survived by four children, two stepdaughters, and seven grandchildren.
