Singer and controversial anti-gay rights campaigner Anita Bryant dies, aged 84

Her anti-LGBTQ+ campaigns saw her face backlash throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s

Grammy-nominated singer and controversial anti-gay rights activist Anita Bryant has died. She was aged 84.

The news was shared by The New York Times, which reported that Byrant died from cancer on December 16 while at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma. Local newspaper, The Oklahoman, also made the announcement and shared a statement from the singer’s family which read: “May Anita’s memory and her faith in eternal life through Christ comfort all who embraced her.”

Born in Oklahoma in 1940, Bryant first began singing at age six and went on to make various television and radio appearances throughout her childhood. She was given her own show, The Anita Bryant Show, aged just 12-years-old.

As a teenager, she took home the trophy at the Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant and came second runner-up in the 1959 Miss America pageant, also going on to share her debut album that same year, accordinng The Independent.

As she centred her efforts on her music career, she performed at both Republican and Democratic national conventions and also made her way into the US charts with songs ‘Till There Was You’, ‘Paper Roses’ and ‘In My Little Corner Of The World’.

One of her most high-profile fans was President Lyndon B Johnson, and Bryant performed at the White House during his residency. He also requested she sing ‘Battle Hymn Of The Republic’ at his funeral after seeing her live rendition at the Super Bowl Halftime show in 1971.

Towards the end of the ‘60s, she became a spokesperson for Florida Citrus, although was later dropped from the role after becoming a vocal opponent of gay rights.

The late ‘70s saw her lead an anti-LGBTQ+ raly that tried to repeal a Florida ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. The ‘Save Our Children’ rally was successful, although it damaged her image and led to a nationwide boycott of the juice from the state. In solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, bars also stopped serving screwdriver cocktails.

Later, she would reveal in an interview that she lost roughly $500,000 (£405,814) in concert bookings as well as a deal to host her own television show. She also became one of the first people to be hit in the face with a pie as a form of protest in 1977.

She was dropped by Florida Citrus in 1980 and her split from husband Bob Green also saw her lose support from conservatives. She later married Charles Dry, although never succeeded in reviving her career.

Back in 2019, a biopic about her life starring Ashley Judd was reported as being in the works, and before then she was the subject for both the 2016 play Anita Bryant’s Playboy Interview and the 2018 musical The Loneliest Girl In The World.