The Super Bowl LIX halftime show took place on February 9, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. It featured Pulitzer prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar as the headline performer, with guest appearances from R&B artist SZA, actor Samuel L. Jackson, tennis player Serena Williams, and DJ and record producer Mustard. The reviews were mixed but not for the right or should I say “white” reasons.

Lamar’s performance was dripping in subtle messages and not-so-subtle camera angles and featured an entire company of Black excellence, from his background dancers to highlights like Serena Williams doing a crip walk during “Not Like Us.”

Samuel L. Jackson appeared multiple times as Uncle Sam and it was for good reason, providing proof with his statements in between song sets of the obvious political and cultural divide we are facing. Lamar’s dancers, all Black men and women, featured a fit of red, white, and blue, which created a moving picture of the American flag. The choreography was seamless, subtle, and tight, with Lamar in the middle of his dancers showing even more of the blatant rebuttal of our nation. Surely, this went over many people’s heads, but it was an obvious ‘f*** you’ moment shared on the largest stage of the night earning 133 million viewers worldwide.

Not to mention, President Trump was in attendance. Kendrick topped off his performance with his well-known Drake diss track (hence Serena Williams – Drake’s ex) and even took time to stare into the camera while stating the rapper’s name “Drake” with a bright, bushy-tailed smile.

A moment everyone is still talking about occurred when the majority of the crowd in the Superdome repeated back the lyric “A MINOR” when referencing rapper Drake – a moment that went viral on every social media platform available.

Many Americans–mostly white–had complaints about Lamar’s 13-minute performance, saying it lacked production value, big energy, and not enough diversity within the rap genre.

Choosing to create a negative narrative as opposed to focusing on the fact that this was a first, and hopefully not last, for the Superbowl Halftime show featuring the rap genre.

Some say it was obvious and some say it was the worst thing to ever hit our television screens. Regardless of the mixed reviews, it has been over a week and we are still talking about the performance at the same volume as we were a week ago.

Did I pass the vibe check?

How does one even attempt to give an honest review of a new TV show executive-produced by the late Norman Lear – a pioneer in entertainment – also starring Laverne Cox, a trailblazer for trans representation? Given the current political climate towards the queer community, approaching Clean Slate should be done with kid gloves. Still, the show struggles to find its footing and generally misfires.

The show, now streaming on Prime, was originally pitched to Lear by comedian and co-star of Clean Slate, George Wallace as a Sanford & Sons reboot. Lear told him to go back to the drawing board and come back with something new. Ultimately, Wallace, together with Laverne Cox and Dan Ewen, created a show that is a throwback to the family sitcom era and to Lear’s earlier shows like All in the Family and The Jeffersons.

What’s missing here is a live audience and a stage.

The writing doesn’t seem to get that. One-liners fall flat, and preachy character orations clunk away with their heavy-handedness. Some of the actors are able to make something of a dated and unimaginative script, and some do not. Some of the jokes and situations are very stale, we’ve heard and seen them before. Though new to the scene, this show does not seem fresh, which is odd for a Lear project. We wish Clean Slate was as fast-paced and fun as the show’s trailer.

Always one to push the envelope, Lear’s projects have addressed class, racism, abortion, women’s rights and queer issues, many times way before mainstream audiences were prepared to discuss them. In Clean Slate, trans and gay issues are in the spotlight.

Laverne Cox’s Desiree returns to her small hometown in Alabama and surprises her father, Wallace’s Henry Slate, after being gone for 17 years. Not only does she surprise her father by coming back, but she also surprises him by showing uo as his daughter and not the son he knew.

Having lost her money running an art gallery in New York, she moves back in with her father to figure out her next steps. The show centers on the bond she creates with her father and the friendships she builds in small-town living, including the family that works for Henry’s car wash, her best friend Louis who is dealing with being in the closet, Louis’ mother, and the local church community.

Ultimately, she also connects with the local queer contingent. The usual themes and situations you would expect unfold. Henry must also now get used to using different pronouns with his daughter and having to put money into a pronoun jar each time he makes a mistake. He helps Desiree deal with her relationship to church and spirituality, when the local pastor shuns her new identity and she falls in love with the town’s hot guy.

Even with these storylines, the proceedings seem unimaginative and dated. At times, it seems like the show is an after-school special and not a progressive comedy. Henry and almost all of the small town embrace Desiree’s new identity with vigor and understanding which – although optimistic and hopeful – seems improbable in small town living in the South. The whole affair just comes across as saccharin in its sweetness.

Wallace as Henry Slate is charming and a great choice to help lead this story. He handles many of the cheezy lines with sincerity that makes it almost work. He is a gentle giant as a character, and quickly becomes lovable, even with his many missteps of grappling with the queer community. He loves his child unconditionally and would do anything for her, which is very believable from the get-go. D.K. Uzoukwu as the closeted Louis plays his role with sincerity and is a very welcome fresh face to big-time TV.

He plays the balance of presentational comedy and character honesty very well. Jay Wilkison as Mack – the town’s bad boy turned loving single father – really handles the material deftly and adds some much-needed craft to make the script and situations seem plausible. He’s also not hard on the eyes. Stealing practically every scene she is in is TV veteran Telma Hopkins, most known for her role in Family Matters, as Louis’ mom. She understands the nuance of sitcoms, single-camera closeups, and just the right amount of presentational acting to make it work. She is a delight to watch. We just want to hang out with her and gossip on the porch.  

We know Laverne Cox is a talented actor. She made history as the first trans actor to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy for her role in Orange Is the New Black. Oddly and we feel guilty by even writing it, but she misses the mark the most in Clean Slate.

She doesn’t seem to understand the material and comedic moments are overdone. Her emotional moments just don’t ring true. She seems to be overacting which, along with a weak script, doesn’t anchor the show properly. But, she is a consummate actor. What was it? The direction? The writing? Her performance just doesn’t cut it.

Here’s the thing.

All that being said, the show does have a lot of heart. But it seems lost, trying to find its footing, as to what it wants to be. A sitcom? A dra-medy? It does not succeed in any of those genres, but as a queer person watching the show, it is touching just because of its existence.

A comedy show led by trans and queer storylines is so much needed right now and just knowing this show is part of the Lear legacy, makes it that much more important.

Should we blindly support queer content just because it is out there? No.

Should we support the efforts and mission of a show? Yes.

And we also love the fact that this is a show the whole family can watch and discuss, which holds a lot of weight. There is a lot to explore if the show gets a season 2 and we do hope it is renewed so it has a chance to find its footing with stronger direction and writing.

Clean Slate season 1 is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

REACH LA, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization aimed at working with youth of color, is stepping up their prevention resources during Black History Month to support the LGBTQ+ community of color. 

Though today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, REACH LA works year-round to provide resources to their community members. 

This month, the organization is amplifying its mission to support Black LGBTQ+ youth by offering free HIV testing and care throughout February, offering a $25 gift card as incentive to get tested. This and all of REACH LA’s efforts are geared toward assisting the marginalized Black and Latin American communities by reducing stigma, increasing education and assisting community members with resources. 

The QTBIPOC community is especially vulnerable to political and personal attacks. As we head into the next four years under a hostile administration whose goal is to erase queer and trans people, there will be continued attacks on federal funding and on any other front possible. 

“This year, it is especially vital, more than ever, to amplify and commemorate National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. At REACH LA, we are currently engaging with individuals and partnerships while navigating through dire and uncertain times where HIV/AIDS awareness prevention efforts, access, and visibility have been under attack and restricted,” said Jeremiah Givens, chief marketing and communications officer at REACH LA. 

It is important to spotlight the intersection between health equity, Black LGBTQ+ empowerment and community-based solutions during Black History Month and every other month throughout the year and especially during this particularly vulnerable time. 

As one of eight CDC PACT Program Partners, REACH LA celebrates National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day with a Positive Living Campaign in collaboration with the CDC’s Let’s Stop HIV Together initiative. The campaign highlights the resilience of individuals living with HIV and works to raise awareness and foster community support.

To learn more about resources, visit their website or stop in for testing, support and other resources. The organization’s doors are open Monday through Friday, from 11 AM to 7 PM for free, on-site HIV testing and assistance with accessing PREP and PEP, linkage to care and free mental health therapy. 

Following Trump’s executive order, healthcare facilities like the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles have paused the initiation of gender-affirming treatments and St. John’s Community Health is unable to access the rest of a $4 million dollar grant to continue providing services for trans and nonbinary people. 

The Children’s Hospital of LA has been known as a refuge from discrimination in a country that has set forth many restrictions for trans healthcare and other barriers for equitable access to life-saving services. 

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez (CD-13) released a statement regarding their move to pause surgeries and hormone replacement therapy. 

“In Los Angeles, we won’t abandon our most vulnerable communities when they need us most. Instead of caving to Trump’s threats, we must come together, mobilize resources, and ensure every child continues to receive the care they need,” said Soto-Martinez. “We urge Children’s Hospital LA to take a stand against these hateful and illegal policies – and work with the city to ensure this critical care can continue.”

St. John’s was the first healthcare provider which reported service impacts as a result of Trump’s executive orders. On Monday, they reported that the CDC terminated a federal grant that started in 2022 through the CDC’s HIV prevention program. The grant allowed St. John’s to operate a program for transgender adults that included life-saving resources like health education, substance abuse treatment, food stamps, HIV testing and connections for social service programs. 

St. John’s released a statement regarding the loss of funding, stating that they believe the revocation of the fund is in direct violation of both the law and the court of order which restored federal funding after the temporary freeze.

Other top leaders in California have also responded, reminding California hospitals and federally-funded healthcare providers that they have an ongoing obligation under California’s anti-discrimination laws to continue providing care. 

California leaders support transgender youth to live as their authentic selves and they have issued reminders and notices of the state’s obligation to continue supporting patients. 

“We will not let the President turn back the clock or deter us from upholding California values. I understand that the President’s executive order on gender affirming care has created some confusion,” said Att. General Bonta in a statement. “Let me be clear: California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services.”

Attorney General Bonta joined 14 other Democratic General Attorneys nationwide in defense of trans youth. Late January, Att. General Bonta and 22 other state attorneys general filed suit in federal district court to halt the federal government’s illegal efforts to freeze $3 trillion in vital federal funding. 

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado stepped in to say that she stands with trans, gender diverse and intersex patients who rely on these life-saving resources.

“Everyone deserves the chance to be their most authentic selves free of persecution. Gender-affirming care is health care. To those who have had their healthcare disrupted: I stand with you. I see you. I will fight for you,” said Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, CD-14. 

If Trump were to cut federal funding to all organizations and agencies that provide gender-affirming care and promote ‘gender ideology’ as his executive order puts it, then over 220,000 trans, gender nonconforming and intersex adults in California alone are at risk of losing access to gender-affirming care and having to engage in legal battles to obtain life-saving treatments.

On Monday, Feb. 10 from 7pm to 9pm, friends and colleagues of Troy Masters will gather at The Abbey in West Hollywood to celebrate his life and legacy as founder of the Los Angeles Blade. 

Masters was a resident of WeHo and he was a deeply respected and well-known person for his work in the LGBTQ+ community and coverage of queer issues in Los Angeles and New York City. In the years he was a journalist, he built a network of people that truly stood behind the work he felt passionately about. 

The celebration will feature guest speakers who worked closely with Masters s Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, senior contributing writer for the LA Blade Karen Ocamb, CEO of the Trans Latin@ Coalition Bamby Salcedo and co-owner of the Washington Blade Kevin Naff. 

Master’s work and legacy go as far back as the late 1980s where he got his first taste of activism working as an ad representative for the gay and lesbian activism publication, Outweek. 

According to the obituary written by his close colleague Ocamb, the publication only lasted 18 months before founder, record producer and ACT UP supporter Bill Chafin passed away due to AIDS. The magazine was the first glossy gay and lesbian magazine published in New York City featuring news, culture, and events during a time where the AIDS Second Wave was peaking and Masters felt like he had to step in to speak up for the issues that were not only affecting his community, but also contributing to a higher death toll during the epidemic. 

He successfully launched the bi-weekly newspaper Lesbian and Gay New York, which ran from 1994 to 2002 and then re-launched it as Gay City News. After many other career moves and a move across the country to Los Angeles in 2015, he found himself at a work place that included voices who were openly supportive of Trump and his policies. 

This gave him the kick he needed and he gathered the tools to establish what is now the Los Angeles Blade, SoCal’s LGBTQ+ News Source. In short, Masters was a caring advocate for his communities and his tireless work brought together many LGBTQ+ community members. 

Now is the time to celebrate not only his life-worth of accomplishments, but to honor and more importantly, carry on his legacy. 

The Abbey will be providing small bites and the Trans Corus of L.A will honor Masters with a performance.

Please join us on Monday, Feb. 10 from 7pm to 9pm to honor Troy Masters. RSVP at the Eventbrite link here.

MEXICO CITY — Then-President Donald Trump on July 16, 2018, defended Russian President Vladimir Putin during a press conference that took place in Helsinki after they met. I watched it happen on live television while I was on assignment in Mexico City. This disgusting spectacle prompted me to write an op-ed about how the U.S. no longer stood for human rights around the world.

I am once again on assignment in Mexico City, 15 days after Trump returned to the White House. He is doing everything possible to ensure the U.S. will no longer stand for human rights — around the world and in our own country — and basic decency.

Trump’s executive orders have, among other things, threatened the lives of an untold number of LGBTQ+ people around the world who depend upon U.S. foreign aid to survive. These directives have systematically erased transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans. Trump has also antagonized Mexico, Canada, and other U.S. allies with his ridiculous tariff threats.

One may have naively thought that Trump would have shown an ounce of decency with his response to last week’s tragic midair collision near Reagan National Airport. Trump instead suggested, without evidence, that previous administrations’ diversity, equity, and inclusion policies could have caused it.

I thankfully did not watch Trump the comments and defense of them. I did, however, have a very undiplomatic response when I read them while I was at a coffee shop near my hotel in Tijuana.

“Shut the fuck up,” I said out loud.

I wrote after Trump defended Putin in Helsinki that American exceptionalism, however flawed, “teaches us the U.S. is the land of opportunity where people can build a better life for themselves and for their families.”

“Trump has turned his back on these ideals,” I concluded. “He has also proven himself to be a danger, not only to his country but to the world as a whole.”

History is sadly repeating itself.

The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed Scott Bessent, President Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, in a rare bipartisan vote of 68-29.

Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager, becomes the first openly gay, Senate-confirmed Republican Cabinet member. He’s also the highest-ranking out gay government official ever, as Treasury Secretary is fifth in the line of presidential succession. 

It’s hard to make sense of the disconnect here: On one hand Trump makes history with a senior gay appointment; on the other, he launches cruel attacks on the transgender community on day one. 

The Republican-led House last week passed a bill that would prohibit schools that receive federal education funding from allowing trans students to play girls’ and womens’ sports. Trump, meanwhile, has already banned Pride flags at U.S. embassies and eliminated the X gender marker on passports and other government documents. Trump’s executive order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” would prohibit the federal government from recognizing people and populations whose birth sex does not match their gender identity. Additionally, the order directs the attorney general to allow “people to refuse to use a transgender or nonbinary person’s correct pronouns, and to claim a right to use single-sex bathrooms and other spaces based on sex assigned at birth at any workplace covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and federally funded spaces.”

Then on Monday, he issued an executive order banning transgender service members, a move that would impact more than 15,000 brave trans people serving in the military.

So far, Bessent is silent on those attacks. Trump likes his queer people gay, white, cis, rich, and obedient. Bessent has defended Trump’s self-serving tax cut plan for the wealthiest Americans as well as his misguided and destructive tariff obsession. 

Kelley J. Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, released a statement about Bessent’s nomination.

“We need pro-equality LGBTQ+ nominees and LGBTQ+ people at all levels of government. The LGBTQ+ community is counting on openly LGBTQ+ nominees like Scott Bessent to step up for the community,” Robinson wrote. “HRC has a long history of working across the aisle to advance equality and this appointment may be an opportunity to continue.”

We have entered a dangerous time that will require many of us to make decisions about how to respond to these attacks, not just on trans people, but immigrants who are already being arrested and deported in cities across the country. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is making plans for how the city will operate in the event he is arrested and jailed for refusing to cooperate with these immigrant raids. That’s what courage looks like. 

Will Bessent find his backbone and work to convince his boss that the anti-trans hysteria must end? Does he have a trans person in his life who might inform his views? Trans people are human beings, fellow Americans, and family and friends and they deserve respect from their government. They deserve an advocate in the White House who sees their humanity and can articulate it while standing up to the powerful bigots in Trump’s orbit. I hope HRC’s Robinson is right and Bessent will find the courage to stand up for the full spectrum of the LGBTQ community but we haven’t seen any evidence of that yet. 

It’s not just senior gay officials who need to stand up; many of us will likely face a decision to resist or comply with the unconstitutional actions of this administration. Too many former progressive allies have already folded like cheap tents — including MSNBC hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. We must look to the example of Mayor Scott and others who are refusing to capitulate to this madness. I hope Scott Bessent finds his voice and advocates for a more compassionate approach to trans humanity. 

Kevin Naff is editor of the Washington Blade. Reach him at [email protected].

What do Snoop Dogg and Caitlyn Jenner have in common? No, this isn’t the setup for a bad joke — it’s a tragic reality. They’ve become poster children for the misguided belief that cozying up to power structures that openly despise them will somehow buy them a permanent seat at the table — or at least a pat on the head from the same people pulling the strings. Spoiler alert: it won’t.

Take Caitlyn Jenner, for example. She’s been an active Trump supporter and continues to actively work to push legislation that threatens her very existence. While she’s off applauding his presidential win, the ink is barely dry on his executive orders mandating she be referred to by her dead name.

Rather than taking a stand against these policies, she’s leaned into her wealth and privilege, banking on it to shield her from the harm those same policies inflict on the trans community. Why? Because she’s rich and insulated from the struggles and discrimination most trans people face. She can retreat to her Malibu mansion and comfortably tune out everyone else’s reality.  Because as long as Trump is coming up with ways to keep her rich — that’s all that really matters.  

Newsflash: privilege isn’t bulletproof and proximity to power doesn’t erase the hate aimed in her direction.

Then there’s Snoop Dogg and his ilk, rappers who once stood as cultural titans now bending over backward to cozy up to the Trump tax bracket.  After years of using the community to build their stacks, they are perfectly content to throw the same people who put them in their comfy tax bracket under the bus for a front-row seat at a table that was never built for them. They’ve swapped authenticity and influence for the illusion of inclusion, all while pretending the check is worth it.  It’s not–they know it, we know it.  It’s the reason at the domino table we say, “All ain’t good money.”

What they don’t seem to realize — or flat-out refuse to — is that their proximity to whiteness (in the case of Snoop and company) or wealth and privilege (in Caitlyn’s case) doesn’t shield them from the systems they claim to have transcended. Those systems will gladly facilitate (and celebrate) their selling out while continuing to dehumanize and disenfranchise the very communities they come from and should be fighting for. It’s not respect they’re earning — it’s betrayal.  

It’s not just disappointing — it’s dangerous when public figures like Snoop Dogg or Caitlyn Jenner trade their influence for proximity to power, they’re not just letting down their communities — they are actively legitimizing the systems that harm them. They are showing the next generation that progress is negotiable, everyone can be bought, and that fighting for equity can take a back seat to personal gain. 

There’s a gut-punch of disappointment we feel after building up people like Snoop, only to watch them back systems that harm their own. And the pity for someone like Caitlyn, who thinks her money outweighs her self-respect. We need to hold folks accountable — mark this date on your calendar. So when these celebs inevitably flip-flop and come crawling back for the community’s support — be it a new album, reality television series, film — whatever — we remember, decline the call, and leave them on read.

Selling out isn’t just a choice for them — it’s become their brand.

Singing the hook to Chris Brown’s Loyal, “Aww, these h*es ain’t loyal.”

A member of hip-hop generation, Jasmyne Cannick is based in Los Angeles and is an award-winning journalist and political commentator who speaks and writes to challenge, critique, and hold the culture accountable.

Thank you, President Biden, for the Israel/Hamas ceasefire agreement and for all you have done for the country.

I know President Felon will want to take all the credit for the Israel/Hamas ceasefire. The fact is, the blueprint for this ceasefire was announced by President Biden on May 31, and hailed by the UN. Clearly Trump’s threat to Hamas moved the needle, and I am sure his envoy, who President Biden invited to join the talks, was helpful. But as the Biden spokesperson told Craig Melvin on the “Today” show, there is more than enough credit to go around, and the hostages surely don’t care as long as they come home. I really think the media need to stop dealing with the minutia, and focus on what’s important. 

The nation needs to thank President Biden, and his team, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and his deputy, Jon Finer along with all the other negotiators including Brett McGurk, part of the Biden team, and Steve Witkoff for Trump. Clearly strong roles were played by Egypt and Qatar, all working diligently to bring this day about. 

With the support of the United States, Israel remains strong. President Biden helped put together the coalition, which helped Israel defend itself against Iranian attacks. Now will come an even harder part, and it will fall to the Trump administration. We will see Trump’s true colors. Will he simply help his company build new hotels in Israel, which they are trying to do, or will he move to help in the rebuilding of Gaza, and give full support to the Palestinian people. We as a nation must be a big part of rebuilding Gaza. We must move to bring about a free and stable Palestinian state, one that can support itself. That may be a dream, but it is one the United States, and the rest of the world, should be working toward. It is the only way there will ever be a true, lasting, and fair peace, in the region.

I listened to President Biden’s last speech to the nation, and was really proud of him, and proud to be an American. History will view Joe Biden as one of our best presidents. He took office when the COVID pandemic was still in full swing, and people were debating how to start getting back to their lives as they knew them. Trump left the nation in a mess. The economy stalling, millions of jobs lost, and people suffering. More than one million people died of COVID. Our troops were still in Afghanistan and inflation was beginning to rise. President Biden signed the American Rescue Act, which among other things sent checks to millions of Americans. His mistake was that contrary to when Trump sent out checks, he didn’t sign his name to them. He followed that with the Inflation Reduction Act, making huge investments in the American economy, in the areas of energy and climate, among others. He followed that with the first gun control measure in decades, and then the infrastructure bill. He next signed the CHIPS Act, and more. While inflation rose to 9%, his administration worked hard, and with their effective economic policies, have brought it down. Trump will inherit the best economy in the world, with inflation at 2.9%. The stock market is booming, and Biden added nearly 16 million jobs during his term, more than any other one-term president in history. Manufacturing in the nation is booming.

President Biden stood strong against China and Russia. His efforts strengthened NATO and so far, seen that Ukraine remains a free and independent country. Our troops are not fighting anywhere on foreign soil. 

President Biden is right, and we must definitely fear the oligarchy that surrounds Trump. We must fear the likes of Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, and the other multi-billionaires who have attached themselves to Trump for their own greed and betterment. They don’t care about truth, and they don’t care about the rest of us. 

The next four years will be a time to join the resistance to prevent us from going backwards. We must resist legally, and without force, but for those of us who want our democracy to survive we need to keep speaking out. We must work to win elections in Virginia and New Jersey in 2025. Then focus on taking back the House of Representatives in 2026. We can do both, and we must, if we are to ensure the experiment that is the United States, survives and thrives, as we celebrate 250 years in existence. 

Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.

In 1977, Anita Bryant, who recently died, made the career mistake of a lifetime when she began an anti-gay campaign in Miami. Her campaign failed for two important reasons.

First, Bryant mistook the political strength of the gay movement across the U.S. Secondly, her use of religion to promote a campaign of bigotry raised serious questions about her honesty.

After being crowned Miss Oklahoma in 1958, Bryant spent the next two decades performing at state fairs, veterans’ events, religious and charity events, and churches. She performed with Bob Hope’s U.S.O. tours and visited veterans’ hospitals. She promoted Christian living and Florida orange juice. She once said she had abundant energy because “the Lord Jesus is my Vitamin C.” 

In 1977, Bryant and husband Bob Green, a former Miami radio disc jockey, began an anti-gay campaign called “Save Our Children.” The campaign’s goal was to reverse Miami-Dade County’s policy barring discrimination against gays. She raised concerns about gay teachers in public schools.  

Bryant’s anti-gay campaign raised questions about her professed Christian faith. She criticized “cowardly clergy” for their silence on fighting gay rights.

By the late 1970s, Bryant and her husband had published several books about their Christian faith. Bryant’s book tours were a mix of entertainment, self-promotion, with a dose of religion. When reporters asked her who wrote the books, Bryant arrogantly said, “The Lord wrote my books.” When it was later revealed she hired a ghost writer, Bryant’s honesty became an issue.

Celestine Sibley, a veteran columnist for The Atlanta Journal, wrote “The Truth is I Don’t Care for Anita Bryant,” on Sept. 7, 1978. Sibley disliked Bryant’s sanctimonious claim that Jesus wrote her books when the books were ghosted.

In support of gays, Sibley quoted sections of Lord Alfred Douglas’s letters to his mother about his love affair with author Oscar Wilde. His mother urged her son to leave Wilde. Douglas asked her what she could give him in exchange for his lover. Douglas wrote: “Who is going to ‘feed my soul with honey of sweet bitter though?’ Who is going to make me happy when I’m sad, depressed, and ill at ease?” The column was fine journalism for its time. It was an eloquent way of supporting gays.

The newspaper published dozens of reader letters in response to Sibley’s column. One writer said Bryant was “a loudmouth ignoramus.” Writers overwhelmingly supported Sibley. Many writers called Sibley courageous for opposing Bryant’s anti-gay campaign.

In a 1978 Knight-Ridder article, Jean O’Leary, a former nun and an executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said Anita Bryant was “the best thing that ever happened to us.” Her appreciation for Bryant was shared by other gay activists. The anti-gay rights movement had a face. The face of Anita Bryant.

In San Francisco, gay activist Harvey Milk, as quoted in “The Mayor of Castro Street” by Randy Shilts, said, “Anita Bryant herself pushed the gay movement ahead and the subject can never be pushed back into darkness.” If Bryant had felt the gay rights movement was weak, unorganized, and unable to fight against her campaigns, she soon learned a lesson.

In the May 1978 issue of Playboy magazine, Bryant said that she had survived “numerous close calls with mayhem” and that she “expects to be killed by homosexuals.” She said that “twenty years in jail would rehabilitate homosexuals.” Husband Bob Green said, “let’s face it – when some militant homosexual kills Anita, the guy will be an instant hero.”

Christian Century magazine, in 1978, published poll results on religious influencers. President Jimmy Carter, a Southern Baptist layman, and Anita Bryant were among the top influencers.

By the time of her 1980 interview in Ladies’ Home Journal, Bryant was a changed woman. She was divorced. She admitted to suicidal thoughts. She admitted to taking tranquilizers, sleeping pills, and wine due to “the pressures of her work and family life.” She declared bankruptcy.  

Bryant made another important admission in Ladies’ Home Journal. She admitted to an attitude of “live and let live” toward gays. One New York journalist called this admission Bryant’s “Coming Out” as a human being.”

James Patterson is a Washington, D.C.-based writer.