Don't think I'm stupid, but who is Anita Bryant?

[romantico]

Watched Roger & Me last night& she was in in it. I know she was or is against gays. Is she still alive? How popular/powerful was she?I think she became popular before I was even born,thats why I have to ask!

[MrBenchley]

1. Anita Bryant

was a singing star of the early fifties (Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts). With the rise of rock and roll, her singing career sank like a stone. She was a spokesperson for orange juice, and got the job trying to start up right wing "Rallies for Decency" in the late sixties...(The idea being that instead of smoking dope, listening to rock and having sex, young folks would turn up in stadiums around the country to sing along with Up With People and her before joining the Army and heading for Viet Nam.) Needless to say, that bit.

Later she became one of the first spokepersons for "Gays are evil and should burn in hell."

http://www.brumm.com/gaylib/anitabryant1977_1.html

[Cocoa]

3. kudos to Iowa

I think that's where Dennis Hastert got a pie in his face too. :-)

[MrBenchley]

8. Sounds good (n/t)

[ScrewyRabbit]

2. Oh, you're not stupid, just young

She was a pop-singer in the '60s who -- after her career was washed up -- became a spokesperson for Florida orange juice. Later she became an outspoken critic of gay liberation, which prompted a boycott of Florida orange juice.

Here's a link: http://entertainment.msn.com/Artist/?artist=140148

[Shrek]

4. Former Miss America contestant

Orange juice propagandist, and anti-gay activist.

[CBHagman]

5. "Come to the Florida sunshine tree..."

If you're of a certain age (and I am) you spent a horrifying number of years of your life watching TV commercials in which Anita Bryant promoted Florida orange juice.

Also, it should be mentioned that Bryant was something of a mentor to Kathie Lee Gifford. Don't flame me, but I read "The Quiet Riot" (young Kathie Epstein's memoir, which tells, among other things, of her friendship with Bryant). I am not making any of this up.

[Sushi_lover]

6. I hope Anita Bryant never does one of my songs

:)

[JanMichael]

12. Yo! That's what I was thinking! Which song was that? Ah...Manana!

MANANA
Jimmy Buffett

She said I can't go back to America soon
It's so goddamn cold it's gonna snow until June
Yeah, they're freezin' up in Buffalo stuck in their cars
And I'm lyin' here 'neath the sun and the stars.
Customs man tell her that she's gotta leave
She's got a plan hidden up her shrewd sleeve
Wants to find her a captain, a man of strong mind
And any direction he blows will be fine.

Chorus:
Please don't say manana if you don't mean it
I have heard those words for so very long
Don't try to describe the ocean if you've never seen it
Don't ever forget that you just may wind up being wrong.

Tried and I tried but I don't understand
Never seems to work out the way I had it planned
Hanging out at a marina when Steve Martin called
Singin' anybody there really want to get small.

But women and water are in short supply
There's not enough dope for us all to get high
I hear it gets better, that's what they say
As soon as we sail on to Cane Garden Bay.

Chorus:
Please don't say manana if you don't mean it
I have heard your lines foe so very long
Don't try to describe the scenery if you've never seen it
Don't ever forget that you just may wind up in my song.

Called all my friends on those cheap nightly rates
Sure was good to talk to the old United States
While the lights of St. Thomas lie twenty miles west
I see General Electric's still doing their best.

I've got to head this boat south pretty soon
New album's old and I'm fresh out of tunes
But I know that I'll get 'em, I know that they'll come
Through the people and places and Caldwood's Rum

Chorus:
So please don't say manana if you don't mean it
I have done your lines for so very long
Don't try to describe a Kiss concert if you've mever seen it
Don't ever forget that you just may wind up being gone
And I hope Anita Bryant never does one of my songs.
==================================

BTW Buffet backed McBride against Jethro last year for Florida Guv...

[cosmicdot]

7. Miss America ... 2nd runner-up (3rd place) ... Miss Oklahoma 1959

MOST GAYS AND LESBIANS under 40 can hardly imagine the resonance the narrow approval (53 to 47 percent) of Miami/Dade County's gay anti-discrimination law has for those of us who remember the "Anita Bryant era" and her leading role in the 1977 overturn of Miami's first gay anti-discrimination law by a more than two-third vote (69 to 31 percent).

Bryant, you recall, was a former beauty queen, second runner up – i.e., third place – in the 1959 Miss America contest ("I was really disappointed that I didn't get the Miss Congeniality trophy," she said), a popular singer, Christian evangelist, and prominent
pitchwoman for Florida orange juice and other products.


http://www.indegayforum.org/authors/varnell/varnell98.html

[Mairead]

9. .

.

[izzie]

10. Someone to uninteresting to recall.

n/t

[arwalden]

11. Oh I Should Know This... But I'm Not Sure... Was Her Husband Gay?

Didn't he come out many years ago... about the time that Anita apologized to the gay community?

I'll still never forgive her.

-- Allen