1977
Common Ground
Sometimes your worst enemies can be your biggest asset. In San Diego, this was true of the gay and lesbian* community preparing for 1977 Pride. The threat came in the form of a former beauty queen turned orange-juice pusher who helped overturn a local ordinance in Dade County, Florida, that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Her success in Florida gave momentum to what became a nationwide anti-gay crusade. In San Diego, this threat had the effect of uniting the community.
Anita Bryant: Our Frenemy
Anita Bryant was a former beauty queen who was second runner-up in the Miss America pageant. In the mid-1970s, she was best known as the spokesperson for the Florida Citrus Commission and was featured on national television commercials, where she sang the praises of orange juice. Her famous tag line was, “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.”
In 1977, when a local law was passed in Dade County, Florida, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, Bryant transformed from an orange-juice peddler, to an anti-gay crusader. Backed by an upwelling of support from the Christian right, she led a campaign to overturn the law. She called her crusade the “Save Our Children” campaign because she equated homosexuality with pedophilia.
On June 7, Bryant was successful in overturning the ordinance by more than a 2 to 1 margin. Fresh from her success in Florida, and basking in the adoration of the Christian right, she vowed to take her crusade across the country.
Let she who is without sin cast the first orange.
The reaction to Anita Bryant’s success, coming only weeks before San Diego was scheduled to celebrate Pride, was intense. After her win in Florida, Bryant swore to take her crusade nationwide and this had the effect of unifying the community against a clear threat posed by Bryant and her supporters. That year’s Pride themes were “No More Miamis” and “A day without human rights is a day without sunshine,” which played on Bryant’s orange-juice tagline.
The impact on Pride that year was clear. Marchers carried signs that clearly referred to the threat posed by the former beauty queen and her crusade against gays:
• “Anita is a citrus-sexual”
• “Let she who is without sin cast the first orange”
• “Save the Children from homophobes”
• “La Anita está loca”
• “Hitler, McCarthy, Anita”
Attendance for the event took a huge leap forward as well. More than 1,000 people showed up to march down Broadway in the middle of the day. Robert “Jess” Jessop and Gloria Johnson were the Grand Marshalls and the number of contingents swelled to the point that the Pride committee felt the need to impose some regulations regarding the size of the contingents and signs. Contingents with floats or vehicles were required to pay a $6.00 entry fee.
The Socialist Worker’s Party was present again, but the community was so united, and so focused on Anita Bryant, that trouble between the Pride committee and the SWP was minimal. This would change the following year.
*Gay had been an umbrella term, but by the late ‘70s the accepted term was gay and lesbian.