Anita Bryant vs. Bob Kunst

Activists Remember After 20 Years

by Jack Nichols

Historian John D'Emilo says the 1977 Anita Bryant feud "was the first time there was sustained national interest in the gay rights story. The battle lines were clearly drawn between the new gay movement and the forces reacting against it."

In 1976, Bob Kunst and Dr. Alan Rockway, pioneering Florida gay activists, had been peacefully conducting seminars and counseling sessions from their Transperience Center in Coconut Grove. Kunst told Badpuppy: "Transperience was explained as the 'I am You' Consciousness." Transperience gatherings included not only gay men and lesbians, but large groups of heterosexuals and bi-sexuals dealing with questions brought about by the sexual revolution in those times. Shortly thereafter the Center was savaged by Miami resident, Bryant, a "born again" singer who, under the influence of "religious" beliefs, launched a loud crusade against same-sex love, calling it a "deathstyle," and much later hailing herself for predicting AIDS.

Kunst and Rockway entered the 1977 fray, and partial government funding for the Transperience Center was one of the casualties of their struggle to save Miami's gay anti-discrimination ordinance, a second casualty of Bryant's "Save Our Children" crusade.

On a national TV debate between Bob Kunst and Anita Bryant, the gay activist succeeded in making the orange-juice ad matron look as foolish as she certainly was, a fact which found her describing Kunst in 1988 to a reporter from the Orlando Sentinel as a "nincompoop," and as representing a very painful part of her life. In that same year, as a result of tactics Kunst used to thwart her, Bryant was reduced to singing for her supper at various Florida trailer parks. The anti-gay fracas she initiated resulted in an end to her marriage to her manager, Bob Greene and in her loss of employment as a spokesperson for the orange juice industry.

Kunst, for his part, showed the Sentinel reporter that he held no bitterness about Bryant's benighted behavior. "She single-handedly galvanized gays," he said, "We loved her. She has such potential. She's got such a powerful voice--but she sings the wrong tunes. I always said, she was my best friend.

"Tell her this: I'd love to manage her career. I'll make her a new folk hero. We could fill the Orange Bowl, Shea Stadium. I'll give the money to AIDS, she can give it to her church. I'll come with her to mobile homes and pass out condoms. I'll make her a star. Tell her!"

Bryant reacted with dismay. Her expression, said the Sentinel reporter, was horrified. Her eyes opened wide. Her lipstick mouth slackened. She barked a few short laughs:

"The Orange Bowl! Ha! I don't find him funny. At all."