SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Anita Bryant has died at the age of 84. She was a singer and entertainer who became a reliable promoter of national brands, including Florida orange juice during the 1970s, but she became best known later as an antigay activist. NPR's Walter Ray Watson reports.
WALTER RAY WATSON, BYLINE: Anita Jane Bryant grew up in Oklahoma City. Her upbringing was Southern Baptist. She sang in church as a child and performed in state fairs. By 12, she was hosting her own local TV show. She was Miss Oklahoma at the Miss America Pageant in 1959. The following year, she released this pop single.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PAPER ROSES")
ANITA BRYANT: (Singing) Paper roses. Paper roses.
WATSON: "Paper Roses" sold 1 million copies. It was one of her three hits to do so. In 1961, "In My Little Corner Of The World" was her last big pop hit.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IN MY LITTLE CORNER OF THE WORLD")
BRYANT: (Singing) And if you care to stray in my little corner of the world...
WATSON: She went on to release several Christian music albums. During the 1960s, she performed at USO holiday shows for American troops during the Vietnam War. She sang at both Republican and Democratic National Party Conventions. By the end of the decade, she was hired by the Florida Citrus Commission to boost orange juice sales nationally.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
BRYANT: (Singing) Come to the Florida sunshine tree.
WATSON: As a wife and mother, her image was seen as wholesome.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
BRYANT: (Singing) Orange juice with natural vitamin C From the Florida sunshine tree.
WATSON: Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine was her tag line. Bryant's focus switched to political activism in 1977, after she discovered a Dade County, Florida ordinance banning job and housing discrimination against LGBTQ people. She organized Save Our Children, a political movement that successfully overturned the measure the following year. She soon took her campaign to a national level with leaders like Reverend Jerry Falwell supporting her cause. Here's Anita Bryant in an interview at the 1978 Southern Baptist Convention.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BRYANT: We feel that there is a way to restore God back to the - whereas it used to be the public schools. I believe it's now - they are now government schools - and that we as parents, if we do not set the standards in our school systems, then most definitely, as they've already shown, the very militant radical groups will.
WATSON: The LGBTQ community, with the help of vocal members in the entertainment industry, including Carol Burnett, formed a boycott against Florida orange juice across the country. Anita Bryant lost sponsors. Her reputation was permanently damaged. Her marriage of 20 years ended in divorce, and the Florida Citrus Commission ended her contract. The reason - her image was no longer as a wife and mother, but as a divorced woman. Back in 1978, Bryant's advocacy had beat out a local referendum. Twenty years later, she would lose. Her victory was repealed, which meant that in Dade County, Florida, the original law to protect LGBTQ people from job and housing discrimination was restored. Looking back on her life in 2010, she told the newspaper The Oklahoman that, quote, I did the right thing. I've never regretted what I did - and added that she did not hate homosexuals. Anita Bryant is survived by four children, two stepdaughters and seven grandchildren among her family members.
Walter Ray Watson, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PAPER ROSES")
BRYANT: (Singing) So take away the flowers that you gave me and send the kind that you remind me of. Paper roses. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.