Hello there, lovely readers! While the event I want to focus on didn't exactly happen on this exact day in history, I'm writing this during Pride month and thinking of all the various acts of LGBTQ+ pride and rebellion throughout the years and how defiance takes many different forms. This month, I'd like to tell you all about an act of gay liberation that came down to a famous dessert.
No, you read that correctly, a famous dessert - or, rather, a dessert that became famous when it was thrown in the face of a vicious anti-gay activist, Anita Bryant.
Let's go back to 1977. The Stonewall Riots had happened nearly a decade prior, and the gay community was still fighting for equal treatment and decency from the world at large. Some victories had been achieved, such as Dade County in Florida passing an ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This was a big win, especially in the late '70s, and was celebrated as a step forward in gay liberation.
Enter, Anita Bryant (dun dun dunnnnnn).
Anita Bryant was a former Miss Oklahoma pageant winner, a runner-up in the 1959 Miss America pageant, and a semi-famous country singer. She performed with Bob Hope at USO shows to entertain the troops and even became the spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission, singing about the wonders and benefits of orange juice. She was also an extremely devout anti-gay Christian who saw homosexuality as indecent and sinful. She led a campaign against the Dade County ordinance as the leader of a group called Save Our Children. The group's belief was that homosexuality was not only a sin but that gay people actively abused and recruited children to 'the homosexual lifestyle', a false tirade that is unfortunately still touted by many against queer people to this day. She also espoused the same disgusting rhetoric that's been thrown at the gay community for as long as we've been around, and I won't subject you to any more of her words here - it's enough to say that she believed the worst about gay people and made it her mission to make everyone believe the same thing. Unfortunately, she was able to get that ordinance overturned, but she also gained the attention of the world at large, particularly gay activists.
But how does dessert figure into this?
Well, first there was a major boycott of orange juice. Gay bars all over the country stopped serving screwdrivers, made with vodka and orange juice, and using apple juice instead as the 'Anita Bryant cocktail'. Buttons and posters spread making fun of Bryant's orange juice jingles or blaring the words Anita Bryant Sucks Oranges. And then came October 14, 1977.
Anita Bryant appeared on NBC News that day as part of a tour across the United States where she and the Save Our Children group fought against any pro-gay legislation and preached about the dangers of giving homosexuals equal rights. She was talking about how they had faced opposition at their previous stop, and how Save Our Children was planning on opening up a bunch of so-called 'rehabilitation centers for homosexuals', or conversion 'therapy' camps when Thomas Higgins, a young gay activist from Minnesota, stood up and took action.
He hit Anita Bryant square in the face with a pie on live television.
While she tried to play it off with a joke and a prayer, the effect was immediate. Her agent fired her as a client, claiming she used her hate-filled campaign to gain fame and notoriety. The Florida Citrus Commission dropped her from their advertisements, and was sued as a co-defendant in the murder case of a young gay man whose killer had claimed he'd done it because of Anita Bryant. Her reputation destroyed, Bryant got divorced and dropped out of public life.
Now, I'm not advocating anyone go throwing pies at people - not unless you're in a slapstick comedy or someone asked you to pie them in the face. I just want everyone to appreciate the power of something so simple - a regular old fruit pie and a single act of rebellion.
Happy Pride!
