Dear Gossips,

News that Anita Bryant passed away broke yesterday, and the whole world reacted like this:

 

If you’re not familiar, Bryant was a singer popular for a minute in the 1960s before pivoting to hardline anti-queer crusading for the rest of her life. She is most known for “championing” the “Save Our Children” campaign which sought to repeal an anti-discrimination ordinance in Dade County, Florida, which prohibited discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. This was in the late 1970s, and Bryant was successful, she undoubtedly contributed to the delay in granting the queer community equal human rights under the law in the US. 

 

She was then publicly pied on TV, which you can see here (content warning for discriminatory language):

 

 

If you want to hear a comprehensive telling of Anita Bryant wasting her life on hate, The Dollop podcast did a two-part episode on her (here and here). But I don’t bring up Anita Bryant to talk about her, specifically, but about the reaction to her death, which was again, very unsympathetic.

 

 

Seeing the widespread shrug of indifference that greeted news of Bryant’s passing reminds me a lot of the reaction to the death of Phyllis Schlafly nearly a decade ago. Like Bryant, Schlafly dedicated her life to hate and to the impediment of equal rights—literally, she lobbied to kill the Equal Rights Amendment, which still has not been ratified by enough states to become part of the Constitution—and like Bryant, there were plenty of people who commemorated her death by pointing out all the awful sh-t she did to make the world worse.

 

I’ve said before that we’re not in the obituary business here at LaineyGossip, and this is certainly not an obituary for Anita Bryant (that sympathy card was declined). But I am thinking of all this regarding tone, and how to write about celebrity and pop culture when dire events are unfolding in real time. I have close friends in LA, some of whom have already lost everything, others who are waiting to see if they will have to evacuate and potentially lose everything, too. Amidst that real worry, it’s hard to care about much else. But I know this is a place a lot of people come to for escapism, and I don’t want to lose sight of that, either. I guess what I’m saying is spend your emotional energy where it matters to you most, I hope you find some respite here, and if you or your loved ones are affected by the fires, just know you’re never far from our thoughts. 

Live long and gossip,

Sarah