Anita Bryant, singer and crusader against gay rights, dies at age 84 | Oklahoma

Anita Bryant, a multi-Grammy-nominated singer and former Miss Oklahoma who later became a high-profile campaigner for gay rights in America, has died at the age of 84.

In one announcement on Thursday, Bryant’s family announced that Bryant died at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, on December 16, 2024. “May Anita’s memory and her faith in eternal life through Christ comfort all who embraced her,” her family said.

Born on March 25, 1940, in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, Bryant quickly rose to fame through his musical career with hit songs including Till There Was You, In My Little Corner of the World and Paper Roses. At age 18, Bryant was crowned Miss Oklahoma.

In addition to singing at the White House during Lyndon B Johnson’s presidency, Bryant sang at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. She was that too spokesman of Florida Citrus, who once coined the phrase, “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.”

In the 1970s, Bryant became politically involved by leading the anti-LGBTQ+ “Save Our Children” campaign, which sought to overturn an ordinance in Dade County, Florida that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Speaking to Playboy in 1978, Bryant said: “I only got involved because they were asking for special privileges that violated Florida state law, not to mention God’s law.”

In response to Bryant’s anti-LGBTQ beliefs, gay right activists boycotted Florida orange juice, Hollywood Reporter reported. It added that Bryant said she lost approximately half a million dollars in concert bookings.

Bryant is survived by her four children, two stepdaughters, seven grandchildren and their spouses, her family said in a statement.