NEW YORK (AP) — Anita Bryant, a former Miss Oklahoma and popular singer who became known in the second half of her life for her outspoken opposition to gay rights, has died. She was 84.
Bryant died on December 16 at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, according to a statement from her family on the news site The Oklahoman on Thursday. The family did not provide a cause of death.
A native of Barnsdell, Bryant started singing at an early age, and was just twelve when she hosted her own local television show. She was named Miss Oklahoma in 1958 and soon embarked on a successful recording career, with hit singles such as “Till There Was You,” “Paper Roses” and “My Little Corner of the World.”
In the late 1960s she was among the entertainers who participated Bob Hope during his USO tours for troops abroad, she had sung at the White House and performed at national conventions for both Democrats and Republicans in 1968. She also became a highly visible spokesperson for several products, most notably for orange juice from Florida.
But in the late 1970s, her life and career took a dramatic new path. A lifelong Christian, Bryant led a successful campaign to repeal an ordinance in Florida’s Miami-Dade County that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. Supported by Rev. Jerry Falwell, among others, she continued to oppose gay rights across the country and became the object of much criticism in return.
Activists organized boycotts against products she supported, designed T-shirts that mocked her and named a drink for her – a variation of the screwdriver that replaced orange juice with apple juice.
Her career in entertainment declined, her marriage to her first husband Bob Green ended and she later filed for bankruptcy.
We need your support
Support JS
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
More recently, she led Anita Bryant Ministries International. Her second husband, NASA test astronaut Charles Hobson Dry, died last year. According to her family’s statement, she is survived by four children, two stepdaughters and seven grandchildren.