Anita Bryant is dead: the singer who spoke out against gay rights was 84 years old

NEW YORK — Anita Bryant, former Miss Oklahoma and a popular singer who became famous for her open opposition to gay rights in the second half of her life, has died. She was 84 years old.

Bryant died on December 16 at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, according to a statement posted by her family to the news site. Oklahoman on Thursday. The family did not provide a cause of death.

Bryant was from Barnsdell and started singing at a young age, and was only 12 years old when she hosted her own local television show. In 1958, she was elected Miss Oklahoma and soon began a successful recording career, releasing hits such as “Till There Was You”, “Paper Roses” and “My Little Corner of the World”.

In the late 1960s, she was among the artists who joined Bob Hope on his Universal Service Obligation tours overseas, sang at the White House, and performed at both the Democratic and Republican national conventions in 1968. She became also a highly visible spokesperson for various products, especially Florida orange juice.

However, in the late 1970s, her life and career began on a completely new path. A lifelong Christian, Bryant led a successful campaign to repeal an ordinance in Miami-Dade County, Florida, that would have prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Supported by, among others, the Reverend Jerry Falwell, she continued to oppose gay rights throughout the country, for which she became the subject of much criticism.

Activists organized boycotts of the products she promoted, designed T-shirts mocking her, and named a drink after her – a variation of the screwdriver that replaced orange juice with apple juice.

Her entertainment career declined, her marriage to first husband Bob Green fell apart, and she later filed for bankruptcy.

Most recently, she headed Anita Bryant Ministries International. Her second husband, NASA test astronaut Charles Hobson Dry, died last year. A family statement says she left behind four children, two stepdaughters and seven grandchildren.