Gay Rights Showdown in Miami

Campaign fever hit Miami and surrounding Dade County last week and press and television reporters moved in to record the frenzy. A key mayoralty election? No. The latest and perhaps final chapter in the struggle over whether to retain Dade County's bitterly debated ordinance outlawing discrimination against homosexuals in housing, employment and public accommodations. This week the county will hold a referendum to decide whether or not to rescind the law. Already the issue has grown into a symbol of the countrywide battle for homosexual rights--pitting the zeal of Singer Anita Bryant, the pro-repeal crusader, against the anti-repeal efforts of newly energized gay activists.

Born Again. The ordinance was enacted last January despite the opposition of Bryant. Now 37, she was a runner-up for Miss America in 1959 and has made several million-record sellers. She earns around $500,000 a year, including $100,000 for extolling Florida citrus fruits on TV. A devout Baptist, Bryant claims she was "born again" at the age of eight. As an entertainer, says Bryant, she sees and tolerates homosexuals. But she opposes this ordinance because it prevents private and parochial schools from discriminating against homosexuals in hiring teachers. Her four children attend a Baptist school. Says she: "When the law requires you to let an admitted homosexual teach your children and serve as a model for them, it's time to stop being so tolerant." Her main argument: "The Bible clearly says homosexuality is an abomination."

Joining with other anti-homosexual forces around Miami, she became the prime mover behind Save Our Children, Inc., and collected 66,000 signatures, more than enough to force this week's referendum on the ordinance.

Replying to Bryant's charge that homosexual teachers could harm their pupils, Miami's gay activists say there have been no such incidents in any of the 38 other cities and counties with similar laws. They claim, with the backing of some psychiatric evidence, that a person's sexual orientation is fixed between the ages of three and five.

Although they have remained quiet in the past, many homosexuals in Miami, where 150,000 are thought to reside, are distributing buttons and hawking T shirts reading ANITA, DEAR, CRAM IT. The group has put together a get-out-the-vote drive and mailed some 250,000 pamphlets in the campaign's closing days.

The Dade County Democratic Party has endorsed the ordinance. So has the National Council of Churches and 125 local clergymen. Gay activists have persuaded a variety of big names--including Feminist Gloria Steinem and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark--to come to Miami. The biggest surprise has been contributions: some $350,000 has poured in, mostly in small sums, much of it from anonymous donors, at least half from outside Florida.

Bryant's legions have been equally active. The Save Our Children coalition attracted some 10,000 people to the Miami Beach Convention Hall last month for a "God and Decency Rally." More than $140,000 has been raised in contributions, some from as far away as Southern California and Texas. Florida Governor Reubin Askew is supporting the movement. Orthodox Jews and the Catholic hierarchy, concerned about their private schools, have come out firmly against the ordinance. The Rev. F. William Chapman, pastor of Bryant's church, insists he would burn down his parochial school "rather than permit a homosexual to teach here."

In the heat of the campaign, emotions have got out of hand. A gay worker was hospitalized after a beating; others have received crank calls. Urges a bumper sticker: KILL A QUEER FOR CHRIST. After receiving many telephone threats, Jack Campbell, a gay-rights leader, has installed guards around his house. Bryant has also hired security men because of phone warnings.

National Issue. Meantime, Bryant has stepped up her rhetoric, telling one interviewer that God does not like homosexuality because "the male homosexual eats another man's sperm. Sperm is the most concentrated form of blood. The homosexual is eating life." During a debate with Gay Rights Activist Bob Kunst, she startled the audience by breaking into a stirring rendition of Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Many Miami homosexuals think that they will be the ultimate winners this week, even if they lose what is expected to be a close vote. Their reasoning: Bryant's spirited attack has encouraged homosexuals all over the country to come out of their closets. Already, gay groups from Boston to San Francisco are organizing as never before. Says Kunst: "We have created a national issue, and we intend to stay with it."

So does Anita Bryant. She has announced plans to go national with Save Our Children. Cities across the country are starting to struggle with the gay-rights problem, and only Massachusetts is in the process of approving a bill forbidding public agencies to discriminate against homosexuals in hiring employees. A federal bill protecting gays against bias, introduced by Congressman Ed Koch, has so far collected 38 cosponsors. Whatever happens in Miami this week, the fight for--and against--gay rights is just beginning.

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