A tragic postscript to backlash was the assassination of openly gay San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk a year and a half later.
Under Bryant’s leadership, in June 1977, voters in Florida’s Dade County, which includes Miami, overwhelmingly repealed its gay rights ordinance in a referendum. Anita Bryant, former Miss America runner-up and pitchwoman for Florida orange juice, was the backlash’s unlikely public face, founding an organization called Save Our Children. In the atmosphere of the closing years of the decade, with its rising opposition to issues like abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment, a counterrevolution emerged. On June 13, 1977, State Representative Elaine Noble, a Democrat from the Back Bay, smiles after addressing a crowd at a gay rights rally on Boston Common.
