The Pie Seen Around the World

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Anita Bryant recently died. For those readers who have no clue as to who she was, she was a devout Christian and a beauty queen (Miss Oklahoma) who parlayed that early fame into a successful career in show business. She was the long-time spokesperson for the Florida Citrus Commission and was seen on hundreds of television ads promoting Florida orange juice. She sang her way into Billboard pop charts with four popular hits. She appeared on several TV specials. Paramount contracted her to lead a variety show.

However, she is perhaps best-known for being a famous advocate for denying LGBTQ people equal rights, calling gay people “an abomination.” She founded an anti-gay organization named Save Our Children that was responsible for spreading the mischievous lie that homosexuals were really pedophiles seeking to recruit kids into aberrant sexual behaviors. "Since they can't have children, they recruit them" was her repeated statement. That absurd conviction still echoes today with the accusation of “grooming” that has exploded in our present-day culture. It’s the same fear responsible for the movement against drag shows and the popular Drag Queen Story Hours held for years in libraries around the nation.

When I was just 14 years old, I happened upon a photograph in the newspaper of Ms. Bryant getting a banana cream pie in the face, wielded by an angry demonstrator named Thom Al Higgins. The photo ran in magazines and newspapers throughout the world. Although the picture was likely meant to cause a negative reaction in the viewer toward Mr. Higgins and his implied violence, it proved to be the beginning of the collapse of Bryant’s career. Ironically, the unintended consequences of her Christian crusade against homosexuality sowed the seeds of its wider acceptance. Her very public activism was responsible for gay-rights battles, such as the fight for gay marriages, that came in the decades that followed.

As my fellow sex educator and author, Brian McNaught, has said, “As awful as her behavior was, she made the word “Gay” known worldwide and helped us forge a community…and the press it generated forced middle-class America to take sides and moved them in our direction.”

The rise of cancel culture

Bryant’s downfall might have been the first case of “cancel culture” I can recall. Gay people and their supporters—families and friends—became outraged when they learned of Bryant’s actions. One example: gay bartenders and bar owners began refusing to sell Florida orange juice in their establishments, inventing the “Anita Bryant Cocktail,” vodka and apple juice instead of orange juice. Thousands of people demonstrated against her crusade and signed petitions to the companies that were offering her contracts. Eventually, her anti-gay activism led to her financial ruin.

The demons beneath

As most therapists will acknowledge, when we see a client reacting with rage against something, especially something as loaded as someone else’s sexual identity, we most often surmise that the thing they are raging against has to do with their own inner struggles, their own unacknowledged demons. We see hundreds of examples of this nearly every year. A popular minister, pastor, priest, or anti-gay crusader is discovered to be having secret same-sex assignations. Some of those who rail most loudly about the sanctity of marriage are later found to be carrying on with a parishioner or their neighbor’s wife. Politicians accuse their opponents of the very things they themselves are doing.

I can’t help but wonder what demons Bryant was dealing with. As Shakespeare’s Hamlet said in one of the Bard’s most famous plays, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Far too often, religious doctrines often act as cover for the underlying hatred and insecurity they are feeling and fomenting in others.

She seemed obsessed by fear that homosexuality was coming for hers and others’ kids. When she learned of a gay teacher at her kid’s school, she yanked them out. She wrote in The Anita Bryant Story, “The thought of known homosexuals teaching my children…kept coming to my mind.”

I have had countless clients who were sexually abused as children describe this as a “gay” experience and have even had clients tell me that their perpetrator “queered” them. The act of pedophilia on a child has nothing to do with one’s sexual orientation and everything to do with attraction to children.

In Bryant’s earlier life, she existed in a cultural bubble surrounded and supported by her Christian community and their deeply held beliefs. I’m reminded of one of the lyrics in her popular song, My Little Corner of the World: “We’ll soon forget there’s any other place, so welcome to my little corner of the world.” When the famous pie photo came out, the rest of the world learned about what she was up to in her little corner of the world, and the bubble burst. Things changed. Today we live in an even greater age of cultural bubbles thanks to social media silos. If we’re paying attention, we can see that regressive ideas are on the rise. So far, I don’t see a lot of evidence that those with open minds and hearts are up for the coming battles I’m imagining. That’s a bit worrisome to me.

A reason for concern

The recent upsurge of anti-gay and anti-trans sentiment in our nation, especially by politicians, is concerning. Just as women’s and minorities’ hard-earned rights are being eroded, the LGBTQ community has reasons be vigilant and active. According to the Gallup organization, in 2024 nearly 70 percent of Americans think gay marriages are okay. That’s the good news, but that kind of support falls off dramatically when interviewers ask about support for changing gender or gender-affirming care.

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Progress happens slowly in history and sometimes even takes a step backward. It’s just how the cycle happens. Meanwhile, it is important for all people who believe in civil rights for all to take a stand.

And as a therapist, I also think it is important that we seriously study and learn how to help those who are struggling with their inner demons. Bigotry and hate are part of human history, but if we can help people to realize the source of these malignant forces within them, we can save people from such an ignominious as Bryant experienced.