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Remember Anita Bryant? The former 1959 Miss Oklahoma became a squeaky-clean second-tier pop singer and huckster for Tupperware and Florida citrus before finding her calling as anti-gay crusader. June 7 marked the 30th anniversary of "Save Our Children," Bryant's (temporarily) successful campaign in Miami-Dade county, Florida, to overturn by referendum a county gay rights ordinance. Fixing on an image of gay teachers infiltrating Christian schools to recruit, the notes Bryant struck were harbinger of the Reagan reaction to come. Her stock themes reverberate in anti-sex campaigning unto the present-- what better time than which to revisit Bryant's career in song, documentary, and exhibition?

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nita Bryant's life has hovered between tragedy and farce. Seemingly stillborn in 1940 in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, she revived when placed in a pan of cold water. Her parents split early. At two, she was taught to sing "Jesus Loves Me" by her doting grandfather, who later lost his sight in an oil refinery explosion. Singing at church led to her own TV show when she was 12 on Midwest City's WKY. That lubricated her coronation at 18 as Miss Tulsa. From there to Atlantic City, where Bryant was second runner-up for Miss America, and tied for Miss Congeniality. Around Christmas 1961, touring with Bob Hope, she sang "Silent Night" to US troops at Guantanamo Bay and in Vietnam. And her gig, from 1968 to 1980, touting orange juice from "the Florida Sunshine Tree" became the platform from which she launched her antigay battle-- which sunk her career and contributed to her divorce. Efforts to return to singing and evangelism in recent years have led to bankruptcies in Arkansas in 1997 and Tennessee in 2001.

Yet times have never been richer for those wishing to explore Anita Bryant's legacy. Until June 30, you can catch an exhibit on her role in gay history in "Days without Sunshine" at the Broward County Library in Fort Lauderdale (100 S. Andrews Avenue). The offerings are mostly from the Stonewall Library and Archives, which has helpfully posted a series of panels online at Stonewall-library.org. It's a model for bringing gay history to the web.

And making the rounds at film festivals is Jerry Rosenblatt's documentary short I Just Wanted to be Somebody ( Jayrosenblattfilms.com ), taking the measure of the woman and her political impact-- which continues with a Bryant-era Florida ban on gay adoptions that's still breaking up families (see Lethimstay.com ). For a newscast of gay activists hitting Bryant with a pie, check out Tinyurl.com/264cn3 .

And don't miss Anita Bryant's own site-- Myspace.com/anitabryant -- which comes complete with a vintage orange-juice ad and some of her hits of the 50s and 60s. In its heyday, Bryant's no-nonsense singing-- somewhere between Rosemary Clooney and Karen Carpenter-- doubtless, ironically, stirred its share of gay hearts.

Author Profile:  Bill Andriette
Bill Andriette is features editor of The Guide
Email:	theguide@guidemag.com