Anita Bryant, beauty queen, singer, and Southern Baptist, dies at age 84
Bryant's speech at the 1978 Southern Baptist Convention attracted thousands of gay rights activists who protested her biblical position and opposition to homosexuality.
Anita Bryant, a singer, entertainer, and noted promoter of Florida orange juice during the 1970s, has died at age 84.
A native Oklahoman, Bryant was reared Southern Baptist, sang in church as a child, and performed in state fairs. By age 12, she was hosting a local TV show.
In 1958 she won the Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant, which helped her launch a music career that produced three top 20 hits in the United States in the early 1960s. From 1969 to 1980, she served as a brand ambassador for the Florida Citrus Commission.
Bryant released a debut album in 1959, and later charted several more hits in the early 1960s including “Paper Roses,” “My Little Corner of the World,” and “Wonderland by Night.” In 1961, she traveled with USO tours hosted by Bob Hope, entertaining U.S. troops stationed around the world. Bryant sang at the White House, and at the 1968 conventions for both the Republican and Democratic parties.
In 1977, Dade County, Fla., passed an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Bryant led a highly publicized campaign to repeal the ordinance, as the leader of a coalition named Save Our Children. She expressed concern that the ordinance risked authorizing homosexual people to work in Christian schools and become role models because her children were enrolled there.
Bryant spoke at the Southern Baptist Convention at the Georgia World Congress Center in June 1978. It was an appearance that attracted thousands of gay rights activists who protested her biblical position and opposition to homosexuality.
Though Bryant died of cancer at her home in Edmond, Okla., on Dec. 16, 2024, her family only now released news of her passing.
Sources:
Anita Bryant (Legacy.com)
Georgia State University Library archives
Anita Bryant (Wikipedia)
Below, Anti Bryant sings her hit song, “Paper Roses” on American Bandstand in the 1960s (via YouTube):