This month marks the 34th anniversary of Anita Bryant and her bellicose band of bigots prevailing in the 1977 vote to discriminate against the LGBT community and make it illegal for us to adopt children. Bryant formed her ironically named organization, Save Our Children, along with her now ex husband and newcomer Jerry Falwell. Bryant belonged to Northwest Baptist Church: she and this congregation were fighting both school desegregation and fighting against gays and lesbians, lest they be given the same rights as those minorities her confederates failed to keep out of their schools. By 1980, it was clear the Orange Juice Queen was on the wrong side of history and both her career and voice died. So what was her legacy?
Fast forward to the mid-term elections of 2010. That ball of crazy ranting against gays and immigration, is that Anita Bryant? No, that is Michele Bachmann. Yes, here is Bryant’s legacy. Bachmann is evidence that Americans do not know history, thus we are repeating some very ugly bits. In 1977, Bryant said:
As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children.
In 2004, an amazingly similar and illiterate reproduction called Michele Bachmann said:
Little children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal and natural and perhaps they should try it.
Bachmann has gone further than Bryant and has reported that she is:
chosen by God to become a politician who will restore faith and family values to public life and do battle with secular humanism.
Am I the only one terrified by this statement? Are we really going to turn over our government to a person that hears the voice of god telling them to become president? Is this a theocracy?
So how much progress have we made for civil rights in the past 34 years? While I’m elated to see that my husband and I can legally marry now in New York, I’m also worried about the rise of the Tea Party and the celebration of mind boggling ignorance as it catapults itself as presidential contenders like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin. Have we learned nothing from the destructive bigoted damage of Anita Bryant and Jerry Falwell? Why are we not having conversations regarding the sustainability of the planet? Why are we not talking about the need for Planned Parenthood and the consumption of the earth’s resources by people with embarrassing large families, which in my opinion seems to work against planetary sustainability? Click here to see Bill Maher doing a great job talking about population control Here are two very good articles worth reading and are the two sources I used to compose this article. Click here and also click here.
12:22 PM PT: What Bachmann said as of today, Sunday, June 26, 2011: "States have, under the 10th Amendment, the right to pass any law they like. Also, federal officials at the federal level have the right to also put forth a constitutional amendment."