Anita Jane Bryant is an American singer and political activist, known for anti-gay activism. She scored three Top 20 hits in the United States in the early 1960s. She was the 1958 Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and a brand ambassador from 1969 to 1980 for the Florida Citrus Commission.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1977.
The New World School of the Arts (NWSA) is a public magnet high school and college in Downtown Miami, Florida. Its dual-enrollment programs in the visual and performing arts are organized into four strands: visual arts, dance, theatre, and music.
California Proposition 6, informally known as the Briggs Initiative, was a ballot initiative put to a referendum on the California state ballot in the November 7, 1978 election. It was sponsored by John Briggs, a conservative state legislator from Orange County. The failed initiative sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools.
Sally A. Heyman is an American politician, businesswoman, and attorney who served as a commissioner of Miami-Dade County, Florida for District 4. Heyman was first elected in September 2002 after serving in the Florida House of Representatives for eight years.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 1970s.
Save Our Children, Inc. was an American political coalition formed in 1977 in Miami, Florida, to overturn a recently legislated county ordinance that banned discrimination in areas of housing, employment, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation. The coalition was publicly headed by celebrity singer Anita Bryant, who claimed the ordinance discriminated against her right to teach her children biblical morality because the ordinance specifically required parochial Christian schools, like the one her children attended, to hire openly homosexual teachers. It was a well-organized campaign that initiated a bitter political fight between gay activists and Christian fundamentalists. When the repeal of the ordinance went to a vote, it attracted the largest response of any special election in Dade County's history, passing by a more than 2-to-1 margin. In response to this vote, a group of gay and lesbian community members formed Pride South Florida, now known as Pride Fort Lauderdale, an organization whose mission was to fight for the rights of the gay and lesbian community in South Florida.
Juan Carlos Zapata, is an American businessman, politician and the owner of Zapata Consulting. Founded in 2004, Zapata Consulting focuses on assisting clients in building strong relationships with public officials and community stakeholders, identifying and pursuing business opportunities, and developing strategies to strengthen a company's brand and market position. Prior to the company's inception, Mr. Zapata was involved in importing seafood, real estate and other business ventures. He also has a strong background in non-profit management.
Herbert A. Wertheim is an American optometrist, inventor, billionaire businessman, and philanthropist. He is the founder and president of Brain Power Incorporated (BPI).
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Florida face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT people. Same-sex sexual activity became legal in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas on June 26, 2003, and same-sex marriage has been legal in the state since January 6, 2015. Discrimination on account of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations is outlawed following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County. In addition, several cities and counties, comprising about 55 percent of Florida's population, have enacted anti-discrimination ordinances. These include Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee and West Palm Beach, among others. Conversion therapy is also banned in a number of cities in the state, mainly in Palm Beach County and the Miami metropolitan area.
This article concerns LGBT history in Florida.
The Anita Bryant Story: The Survival of Our Nation's Families and the Threat of Militant Homosexuality is a 1977 book by Anita Bryant, in which the author provides an account of her evangelical Christian campaign against a gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. The claims Bryant makes about homosexuality in the book have been described as false and unscholarly in nature.
SAVE is a grassroots nonprofit political advocacy organization located in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1993, the organization's stated mission is to "promote, protect and defend equality for people in South Florida who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender."
Elizabeth Frances Schwartz is an American attorney, author, and advocate for the legal rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
Bob Kunst is an American gay rights activist and perennial candidate.
Miami has one of the largest and most prominent LGBTQ communities in the United States. Miami has had a gay nightlife scene as early as the 1930s. Miami has a current status as a gay mecca that attracts more than 1 million LGBT visitors a year. The Miami area as a whole has been gay-friendly for decades and is one of the few places where the LGBTQ community has its own chamber of commerce, the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (MDGLCC). As of 2005, Miami was home to an estimated 15,277 self-identifying gay and bisexual individuals. The Miami metropolitan area had an estimated 183,346 self-identifying LGBT residents.
Debbie Jessika Mucarsel-Powell is an Ecuadorian-born American politician and academic administrator who served as a U.S. representative for Florida's 26th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, her district covered the southern part of Miami-Dade County, including Homestead, as well as the Florida Keys. Mucarsel-Powell was the first Ecuadorian American and first South American-born immigrant to serve as a member of the U.S. Congress.
Eugene Local Measure 51 was a 1978 petition calling for a referendum in Eugene, Oregon, to repeal Ordinance no. 18080, which prohibited sexual orientation discrimination in the city. VOICE created and campaigned for the petition, and gathered enough signatures to force a referendum vote. Measure 51 passed with 22,898 votes for and 13,427 against. This bill's passage garnered national attention, with Miami anti-gay activist Anita Bryant's telegram congratulating VOICE on the victory. It is the earliest example of 35 ballot measures to limit gay rights in Oregon.
Barbara M. Carey-Shuler, public servant, community activist and educator served as the first African American woman on the Board of County Commissioners for Miami-Dade County, Florida when she was appointed by then-Governor Robert Bob Graham on December 10, 1979. She was elected to the Commission in 1982, 1986, 1996, 2000, and 2004 while serving as the Chairwoman of the Board of County Commissioners from 2002-2004, when she became the first African-American to hold the position in the 60 years of Miami-Dade County governance.
