CA: Prop 8 Campaign Patterned After Anita Bryant Crusade, Historian Says

Attorneys challenging the California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage painted the “Yes on 8” campaign as a modern day copycat of Anita Bryant’s late 1970s campaign to “Save the Children.” Through testimony by gay history scholar George Chauncey of Yale University, the plaintiffs’ legal team discussed, in U.S. district court, the creation of unsubstantiated stereotyping of gay men as child molesters by police and news media around the country between the 1930s and 1950s. And it was these stereotypes that former beauty pageant contestant and orange juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant exploited to turn public sentiment against anti-discrimination laws gays had been successful in passing in the 1970s. “The initial polling data showed there was actually a margin of support for anti-bias ordinances,” said Chauncey. So Bryant and her campaign, he said, “decided to focus on the consequences of allowing such laws –the effects on children.” Full Story from 365Gay: http://www.365gay.com/news/day-2-is-prop-8-like-the-anita-bryant-crusade/

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