Anita Bryant

Anita Bryant was an American singer and conservative activist whose 1977 campaign to repeal a Florida county ordinance protecting gay people made her a prominent figure in the U.S. culture wars.

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Save Our Children: A 1977 campaign led by Anita Bryant to repeal a Miami-Dade County ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. This campaign turned Bryant’s opposition to gay rights into a national political cause.
Gay rights movement: A movement seeking equal rights and social acceptance for gay people. Bryant’s campaign galvanized activists who organized against discrimination and mobilized voters.
Jerry Falwell: An American Baptist pastor and political activist who founded the Moral Majority in 1979. Falwell and Bryant represented an emerging alliance between evangelical Christianity and conservative politics.
Religious right: A political movement in the United States that organizes around conservative religious values. Bryant’s activism helped make opposition to gay rights a visible cause within this movement.
LGBTQ history: The history of LGBTQ people, communities, activism, and changing social and legal conditions. Bryant’s campaign and the response to it became a widely remembered episode in this history.
Dade County anti-discrimination ordinance: A 1977 Miami-Dade County law that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas including employment and housing. Its repeal was the immediate goal of Save Our Children.
Anita Bryant boycott: A consumer boycott of products associated with Anita Bryant after her 1977 anti-gay-rights campaign. The boycott targeted her commercial endorsements as a response to her political activism.
Moral Majority: A political organization founded by Jerry Falwell in 1979 to mobilize conservative Christians. Its later organizing reflected the broader religious-conservative politics associated with Bryant’s activism.
LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws: Laws prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people in areas such as employment, housing, and public services. The Miami-Dade ordinance Bryant opposed was a local example of these protections.
Coming out: The process by which LGBTQ people disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity to others. The visibility of gay people in public life challenged the campaign’s portrayal of homosexuality.