Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Famed Homophobe Anita Bryant Gets Ultimate Karma After Granddaughter Gets Engaged To A Woman

Famed Homophobe Anita Bryant Gets Ultimate Karma After Granddaughter Gets Engaged To A Woman
Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

For people of a certain age, there is no more famous--or infamous--homophobe than evangelical Christian singer and television personality Anita Bryant.

A 1970s beauty queen, singer and television personality who became a passionate public crusader against gay people, who she claimed were pedophiles, Bryant is best remembered for getting a pie thrown in her face by an LGBTQ-rights activist during a 1977 press conference.


And now, all these years later, the 81-year-old bigot is getting another figurative pie to the face.

Her granddaughter, Sarah Green, is marrying a woman.

Guess all of Bryant's activism failed, huh?

Green recently spoke publicly about her experience coming out at the age of 21 to her grandmother, who responded by telling her that homosexuality is a delusion created by the devil and that if she focused on loving God, He would turn her straight. Green also said that she and her fiancé are still debating over whether to invite Bryant to the wedding.

But while many of us would be angry with our family member in this situation, Green feels something different for her deluded grandmother: pity.

"I just kind of feel bad for her. And I think as much as she hopes that I will figure things out and come back to God, I kind of hope that she'll figure things out."

Green's discussion of Bryant was part of a recent episode of the Slate podcast "One Year" focusing on the year 1977, when Bryant's anti-gay campaigns reached a fever pitch.

That year, Miami-Dade County passed a landmark ordinance protecting LGBTQ people from employment and housing discrimination, the first municipality in the U.S. to do so.

Bryant, who was the spokesperson for the Florida citrus industry at the time, launched a campaign she called "Save Our Children" to overturn the law on the basis of a claim that gay people are pedophiles and should not be allowed to hold certain jobs, like teaching in schools. Naturally, Bryant became the darling of the Christian right at the time, and reviled by more right-minded people.

So much so that Bryant is no longer remembered for her Top 40 music or television career but rather for the moment when gay-rights activist Tom Higgins threw a pie in her face on national television.

youtu.be

In response, Bryant quipped "At least it's a fruit pie" before breaking down in sobs and praying that Higgins be "delivered from his deviant lifetstyle." All while, you know, scraping pie off her face.

Giphy

The news of Green's engagement of course sparked lots of conversation on Twitter, including by people like writer Dan Savage who recalled in a tweet thread the trauma of having to listen to Bryant's anti-LGBTQ hatred as a young closeted gay person.


For many others on Twitter, the schadenfreude towards Bryant was deep and real.











Though Bryant succeeded in her fight to repeal the Miami gay-rights ordinance, her anti-LGBTQ crusade was ultimately unsuccessful—she is widely cited as having triggered a leveling-up of the LGBTQ rights movement that directly led to the advances we know today.

More from News/lgbtq

Jesse Watters
Fox News

Jesse Watters Dragged After Adding Another Mind-Boggling Rule For 'Real Men'

Fox News host Jesse Watters, who is apparently an authority of what it means to be a manly man, gave jazz hands to make a point about how "real men" should or shouldn't wave.

The target of his ridicule was Tim Walz, the enthusiastic Democratic Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate who often greets the public by raising both hands in the air to wave.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of crowd at town hall and Rep. Mike Flood
@MorePerfectUS/X; KETV NewsWatch 7

GOP Rep. Goes Viral For His Response To Crowd Chanting 'Tax The Rich' At Town Hall

Nebraska Republican Representative Mike Flood was criticized following his incredulous response to a crowd that chanted "Tax the rich!" during a town hall meeting.

The Columbus High School auditorium hosted the town hall on Tuesday evening, drawing "nearly 380" attendees, according to local network KETV Omaha. The event was lively, with Flood facing both sharp criticism over Trump administration policies and some appreciation for showing up in person.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Awkward Typo In Elon Musk's Bizarre 'Education Department' Trump Meme Is A Total Self-Own

Billionaire Elon Musk was widely mocked after he celebrated President Donald Trump's executive order to begin to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) by posting a meme of Trump at the department's grave, only for an awkward misspelling to get all the attention.

Polling indicates that eliminating the Education Department is largely unpopular, with 60% of registered voters opposing the move, according to a Quinnipiac University survey conducted March 6-10. Support stands at 33%, with opposition particularly strong among Democrats—98% oppose it, while just 1% support it.

Keep ReadingShow less
JB Pritzker; Donald Trump
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Dem Governor Reveals Trump's Bonkers Demand In Exchange For Equipment During COVID

Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker revealed during a speech this week that he clashed with President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration after Trump promised necessary medical equipment during the COVID pandemic on the condition that Pritzker praise him publicly.

Five years ago, the United States was grappling with the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country had entered shutdowns that had severe economic consequences, leaving businesses and industries on the brink of collapse.

Keep ReadingShow less
Scrabble tiles spelling the word scam
Scam spelled with scrabbles on a wooden table

People Break Down How They Realized An Entire Industry Was A Total Scam

We unfortunately live in a world where scams are on the rise.

Thankfully, some of them are pretty easy to detect, such as an automated call from the IRS telling you a warrant is out for your arrest, or an email claiming to be from Amazon or the USPS asking for your credit card information, only to look closer and see the email address is a yahoo account.

Keep ReadingShow less