Houston LGBT History: Ray Hill Talks about Anita Bryant
36 Years Ago on June 16, 2013
What
role did Houston play in the protests against Anita Bryant, and what
were the local and national impacts? You’re about to find out.
In
January of 1977 Dade County Florida…that’s the county that includes
Miami…passed an ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation. That set off a firestorm and led to the founding of
the organization Save Our Children, with Anita Bryant as leader. They
very quickly got enough signatures to call for a referendum to overturn
the ordinance, with the vote scheduled for June 7th.
By the time the
election was set it only left about two months for the gay community to
mount its own campaign. The short time period was just one of the huge
obstacles, as they were no match for the highly motivated Christian
fundamentalists, who trotted out all the now very tired tirades that
homosexuality is immoral and homosexuals want to recruit children. The
ordinance was overturned by a two to one margin.
The
next day a rally was planned in Norfolk, Virginia, to protest Bryant
appearing there, and it was the first successful show of strength. The
gay community there had organized well, and planted people inside the
auditorium where she was performing. At a particular point they stood up
and chanted and stamped their feet and Bryant broke into tears. The
national media was ready and picked up and ran with this story. The
seeds of gay activism were sown and Houston was next, as Bryant was
scheduled to speak before the Texas Bar Association a week later. And
Houston was also ready, and the planning and strategy was fascinating.
In
an interview with JD Doyle, for the radio show Queer Music Heritage,
Houston activist Ray Hill tells about the city’s role in protesting the
Bryant bigotry, and at the same time lighting the spark of the LGBT
movement in Houston, which quickly spread to other cities.
In
the final quote of the piece Hill sums it up: “I don’t think Annise
Parker would be mayor of Houston now, if Anita Bryant had not visited
this city in ’77. I know that’s an enormous leap, but I think that with
Anita coming to town and giving us a clear target to organize an
opposition to had an enormous effect on our ability to put together a
robust movement that accomplished its goals.”
Houston Protest Photos. Rev. Troy Perry can be
seen in the photo below, on the right hand side.
On Queer Music
Heritage the October 2012 show was a special edition on Songs About
Anita Bryant, including the complete Ray Hill interview, and several
interviews with some of the activists who helped make the protests
happen, in Miami, Norfolk and Houston, along with historian James Sears
and several of the artists talking about the songs Bryant inspired.
Transcriptions of all interviews can be read on the script page.
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