Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Anita Bryant Rolls Over

I was gonna say she rolls over in her grave, but she ain't dead yet. Although today, she may wish she were...

In the '70s, she oversaw one of the most hateful campaigns against the gay community ever seen, voicing that "If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters." See the logic? But her very vocal "Save Our Children" campaign worked, and it led to a repeal of a Florida state ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. In other words, she made it okay to fire or not hire a gay. This was not changed until 1998.

It went further though... In 1977, Florida made it illegal for gays to adopt children. But those days are over as well...

Judge overturns Florida ban on adoption by gays

-- A Florida circuit judge Tuesday struck down a 31-year-old state law that prevents gays and lesbians from adopting children, allowing a North Miami man to adopt two half-brothers he and his partner have raised as foster children since 2004.

"There is no question, the blanket exclusion of gay applicants defeats Florida's goal of providing dependent children a permanent family through adoption," Judge Cindy S. Lederman wrote in her 53-page ruling.

"The best interests of children are not preserved by prohibiting homosexual adoption."


Read it and weep
, Anita!