Foundation
Save the Children was formed in Miami Florida in 1977 in reaction to the Dade County Commission approved a law that outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment and housing. It was the first organised opposition to the gay rights movement and were publicly headed by celebrity born again Christian Anita Bryant. Bryant was a singer and former child star of shows like Oklahoma City and feature on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. As a teenager she became a beauty pageant contestant and won Miss Oklahoma and was runner-up in Miss America. Bryants views on homosexuals were that they could not reproduce on their own and so would try to 'recruit' children into their 'lifestyle'
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Opposition to Gay RightsWhen the Dade County Ordinance was passed, the group began to discuss plans on how to obtain the 10000 signatures needed to force the issue to be decided by a counter voter referendum. The group held a press conference featuring Bryant making statements for the purpose of installing fear in parents, claiming that homosexuals would attempt to recruit their children into their specific "lifestyle". They received over 64000 signatures within 6 weeks and the ordinance was overturned 69 to 31 percent. The Save Our Children Campaign was linked to bouts of violence in the weeks following the Dade County vote, including the stabbing of a gardner in San Francisco and several suicides including one of a Cuban gay activist who was verbally attacked soon after Anita Bryant began her crusade and subsequently took his own life. In response to this, members of the LGBT community began to boycott products that Anita Bryant endorsed including the Florida Citrus Commission. However Anita Bryant's popularity allowed her to travel across state lines and pass the Briggs Initiative in California, which allowed for schools to dismiss teachers or members of staff who even spoke about homosexuality positively or negatively.
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