Save The Children!

Do you remember Anita Bryant’s “Save the Children” campaign? It started in the great sunshine state of Florida and moved through to the west coast where they shouted “Enough.”

Students down in Florida have spoken out over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and are saying “Enough.”

Florida students participate in massive walkout to protest the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
CNN
By Amir Vera and Caroll Alvarado
March 7, 2022


More than 500 students participated in a massive walkout Monday at Winter Park High School in Orange County, Florida, in protest of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill currently being considered by the state Senate, according to walkout organizer and high school student Will Larkins.

The Parental Rights in Education bill, HB 1557, would effectively ban teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms for young students. LGBTQ advocates say the measure would lead to further stigmatization of gay, lesbian and transgender children, causing more bullying and suicides within an already marginalized community.

The walkout was organized by juniors Will Larkins and Maddi Zornek. Several students left class at 9 a.m. ET to protest the bill. During the walkout, students were chanting, “We say gay!” and holding “protect trans kids” signs.

Change came about in the late 60s because of the youth, it is the youth who bring about changes, us old  geezers just sit around in our rocking chairs saying “I remember….” now it is your turn to tell the old folks enough!

Winter Park High’s walkout was not the first act of protest among Florida students. Several high schools across Florida also held walkouts in protest of HB 1557 on Thursday and Friday.

Update 3/8/22 @ 12:50 PM 

And once again the Republicans use B**ls**t for their arguments!

Get a load of this… it is right out of the 50s, 60s, and 70s Anita Bryant “Save the Children” campaign.

Amid the debate on the Senate floor Monday, the bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Dennis Baxley, said his concern that children are “experimenting” with sexual orientation was part of his motivation for this legislation.

“Oh they are only going through a phase.” that is right out of the conservative handbook for conversion therapy and the 1970s

1977: Anita Bryant founds "Save Our Children," and starts organized opposition to the movement for lesbian and gay rights.

Anti-Gay Organizing on the Right

In January of 1977, the Dade County Commission passed a gay-rights ordinance, making Miami the fortieth US city with such a law. The vote alarmed Anita Bryant, a singer, former beauty queen, and born-again Christian, who began a campaign to repeal the ordinance. Within six weeks, Bryant had gathered the signatures necessary to put the issue to Dade County voters. Bryant formed an organization called Save Our Children, Inc., and based the campaign on the idea that "Homosexuals cannot reproduce, so they must recruit." In June, the gay rights ordinance was repealed by a vote of more than 2-to-1. The repeal in Miami led to a wave of repeals and gay-rights defeats in other states, including the passage of an Oklahoma law banning gay men and lesbians from teaching in the public schools.

By focussing on the idea that gays and lesbians were somehow threatening to children, Bryant had created an incredibly powerful rhetorical focus for social conservatives. In 1981, Jerry Falwell echoed her language in a fundraising letter that reminded his followers, "Please remember, homosexuals don't reproduce! They recruit! And they are out after my children and your children." By the beginning of the 1980s, the Religious Right had made the fight against gay and lesbian liberation one of its primary issues, and found it a particularly effective focus for fundraising appeals. The efforts of conservatives slowed the advance of gay-rights and established an organized anti-gay opposition. That opposition is still a force in US politics today. Gay rights and anti-gay conservatives have squared off in a number of recent battles, including the fight over gays in the military and efforts to legislate against civil rights protections for lesbian and gay men.

Source: Miller

Image: UPI/Corbis-Bettman

What goes around comes around again.