Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.
So goes the famous line dropped by Anita Bryant in her promotion of Florida’s orange juice. Dubbed the Sunshine State’s official OJ sweetheart, she would go on to be remembered as a prominent anti-LGBTQ activist. In 1977, when Miami-Dade County in South Florida passed a homosexual nondiscrimination act, Bryant and other conservatives became alarmed. In order to combat the ordinance, Bryant immediately began working to gather signatures that supported calling for a special referendum. In order to urge voters to support her, Bryant launched her organization Save Our Children. To her, children were the true victims of homosexuality. After all, as she often so stated, “Gays can’t reproduce, so they have to recruit”.
The LGBTQ community were appalled by Bryant’s campaigning. Some tried to raise money against her. Others went directly for her money: the orange juice. After Bryant succeeded in calling for her special referendum, gay bars across the country began boycotting orange juice from Florida. Activists, such as Harvey Milk, were inspired by Cesar Chavez’s own grape boycott for his labor union and vocally urged people to drop the drink and take up pineapple juice instead. It was the first ever “gaycott”, and was strongest in San Francisco. San Francisco’s own taverns began printing up notices that they would no longer serve orange juice, and even encouraged others to join them in their daily pouring of orange juice out in the street at 11 AM. In a play on Bryant’s own famous line, many wore tees that espoused messages such as “A Day Without Human Rights is Like a Day Without Sunshine”.
And what did Bryant do in response? She faithfully continued in her religious and child-saving ways. Bryant spent the months of the boycott singing with kindergarteners in the background and portrayed herself as a martyr in interviews. On one television show, a gay activist had thrown a pie in her face. Wryly, Bryant remarked, “Well, at least it’s a fruit pie”, using the common idea that “fruity” was a slur for homosexual people. Then she immediately began praying for the activist and for him to reform his lifestyle. Although Bryant faced enormous backlash among the LGBTQ community, she was not without supporters. Jerry Falwell, in agreement with Brant, stated about the community “We’re dealing with a vile and a vicious and a vulgar gang”.
In the end, Milk’s boycott was unsuccessful. The “gaycott” was simply too small to have any real effect nationally, and the ordinance was repealed. Bryant was triumphant, and declared that she would not give up and would go on to defeat all ordinances in all states. In Miami-Dade County, her activism would have effects that would last for years- it wouldn’t be until 20 years later than there would be a new LGBTQ rights ordinance.
In 1980, Bryant would be fired by the Florida Citrus Commission, and her organization, Save Our Children, seemed to be fired along with her. Bryant’s national fame was permanently destroyed, and gay activists rejoiced and looked towards a brighter future. And while the LGBTQ community continues to break ground on equality everyday, Bryant has still left a damaging legacy. In Florida, gay parents are still banned from applying for adoption despite the thousands of children without a home. In what seems like an attempt to continue her message of saving the children, this ban can be accurately summed up by Joanne Mariner’s statement, “Anita Bryant would be proud”.
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Thank you for this post Jayde! I loved how you included Cesar Chavez's grape boycott as part of the inspiration for the boycott of oranges. It's very cool to see how each civil right movement drew upon one another for inspiration and support. Despite the boycott being started by the gay community in Florida, it gained national attention and support, especially by those in California and San Francisco (under Harvey Milk). An interesting fact I found was that the small parts of the Democratic party actually showed support for the boycott -- demonstrating a shift in public opinion. Specifically, the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee came out to support the orange juice boycott.
ReplyDeletehttps://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/florida-gay-rights-activists-boycott-orange-juice-1977-1980
I found this post really interesting Jayde! I actually wanted to look up more on Anita Bryant and found that she is still alive today. This made me realize how even though LGBTQ rights are clearly still an prominent issue in today's society, 50 years ago it was at such a worse level. I actually found the video of her actually getting pied in the face. Today, she today continues to run her foundation called the, Anita Bryant Ministries International. It focuses more on religious and spiritual things rather than anti-LGBTQ efforts like she had been working on before.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-A2Ql81WTY
http://www.anitabmi.org/3.html
Interesting post Jayde. Although what Anita protested against was completely justified (during that time), the fact that the LGBT community grew stronger in order to fight for what they deserved shows that the American spirit will not be crushed easily. But in that regards, Anita also put in her best effort to protect what she thought was the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteAwesome overview of Anita Bryant and the orange juice/Save Our Children boycott! Anita Bryant's actions most definitely stirred up the discussion of gay rights. Bryant, for example, helped convince the Floridian legislature to ban gays from adopting children. This completely connects with your point that Anita made regarding how children are the most threatened by gays. Check out this article that discusses more about how Bryant's actions impacted certain legislature movements and other governmental actions.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.alternet.org/story/17737/anita_bryant%27s_anti-gay_legacy