Her involvement in her "Save Our Children" campaign, a movement to repeal the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, played a large part in ruining her career. Bryant's anti-gay views drastically changed the way many people viewed her. Her campaign was based on the belief that homosexuality was a sin and that gay people would often steal children. She thought that this was true because, if homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce, they'd have to "recruit" young people. Bryant once stated, "What [homosexuals] really want.. is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life." She said that if the government granted rights to homosexuals, it would then have to give rights to prostitutes, "people who sleep with St. Bernards, and to nail biters".
I'm curious as to what shaped Anita Bryant's beliefs and what caused her to be so averse to giving rights to homosexuals. From my experience, people generally aren't inherently racist, religiously intolerant, or anti-gay, but they usually have some kind of influence that makes them buy into things like that. How do you think someone like Anita Bryant would be viewed today?
I'm curious as to what shaped Anita Bryant's beliefs and what caused her to be so averse to giving rights to homosexuals. From my experience, people generally aren't inherently racist, religiously intolerant, or anti-gay, but they usually have some kind of influence that makes them buy into things like that. How do you think someone like Anita Bryant would be viewed today?
I think it's very possible that people like her exist today. However, without an environment that shares those thoughts, people like that wouldn't speak up. I think there are places where it is considered normal to say things like that and also places where it is considered normal to completely disagree (we are in the normal to disagree). If the people around her were saying the same things then she would be the same today.
ReplyDeleteI think there are lots of people just like Anita Bryant today, many people still view being gay as a sin, and that it's a choice to be homosexual or not. Many of these people still say that the next step after allowing gay marriage is allowing people to marry animals.
ReplyDeleteI think that people like that are mostly negatively viewed today, as the majority of Americans believe that we should allow gay marriage. However, there are still many people who oppose gay marriage, and these people would likely support Anita Bryant.