Anita Bryant January 1977: the enactment of a gay rights law in Miami-Dade county mobilizes the ex-beauty queen's antigay campaign--as well as gays nationwide, including San Franciscan Armistead Maupin. (Gods & Monsters).I actually read about Anita Bryant's Save Our Children campaign to overturn Miami's gay rights law directly from the news wires. It was quite clear to me that this campaign was going to have a galvanizing galvanizing, process of coating a metal, usually iron or steel, with a protective covering of zinc. Galvanized iron is prepared either by dipping iron, from which rust has been removed by the action of sulfuric acid, into molten zinc so that a thin layer of the zinc effect on the gay movement. There's really nothing like a good villain to start a revolution, and Anita filled the bill perfectly. I know what the battle did for me: It forced me to confront my own residual self-loathing and stare it down once and for all by coming out. I was writing Tales of the City as a serial in-house at the San Francisco Chronicle The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young.[2] The paper grew along with San Francisco to become the largest circulation newspaper on the West Coast of the , and I was able to respond to news of Bryant's campaign in a matter of 24 hours, concocting a letter from [gay character] Michael's mother about their efforts to save Florida from the homosexuals. By the strangest serendipity serendipity happy finding of an unexpected object or solution while searching for something else. , I had already established Michael as the son of Florida orange growers. Within a matter of weeks, Michael was writing a reply to his mother in which he comes out. My parents were subscribing to the Chronicle in order to follow the series, and when they got to Michael's coming-out letter, they realized I was writing to them. And within a week they saw me described as a gay journalist in Newsweek when that magazine covered Anita Bryant Anita Jane Bryant (born March 25, 1940, in Barnsdall, Oklahoma) is an American singer. In the 1970s she became the spokesperson for Florida orange juice, making a series of television commercials for them. . About 10 years ago I was at an American Booksellers Association convention where Bryant was appearing, and she was still pissing and moaning moan n. 1. a. A low, sustained, mournful cry, usually indicative of sorrow or pain. b. A similar sound: the eerie moan of the night wind. 2. Lamentation. v. about how the homosexuals had destroyed her career as spokesperson for Florida orange juice. The irony is, it wasn't the orange juice boycott that caused her to lose her job; it was the fact that she made herself forever associated with homosexuality. So in one way she was a victim of homophobia homophobia Psychology An irrationally negative attitude toward those with homosexual orientation, or toward becoming homosexual. See Closet, Gay-bashing, Heterosexism. Cf Gay, Homosexual, Phobia. herself: Folks on the orange board didn't want people to think about queers when they bought orange juice. |
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