Anita Bryant

Anita Bryant was a well-known country singer and cultural icon in the 1970s. In the late 70s, she was a strong opponent of United States gay rights initiatives. She made a splash after playing a major role in the repeal of a Dade County civil rights ordinance protecting the gay community from discrimination based on sexual orientation, advertising her campaign as the "Save Our Children" movement.

In 1977, Bryant visited Houston to perform at the State Bar of Texas’ annual convention downtown, inciting a myriad of controversy amongst Houston's gay community. By that time, gay organizing as a city was well-developed in Houston compared to its major southern counterparts. This organization mainly took the form of the Texas Gay Political Caucus, headed by Gary Van Ooteghem.

In response to Bryant's visit, Ooteghem, alongside Houston gay rights advocate Ray Hill and other figures, organized the first major political action for the Houston gay community. Over 3,000 members of the gay and lesbian community convened at the Depository II bar and marched towards the Hyatt where Bryant was performing, ultimately gathering a crowd of over 8,000 people.  This protest acted as Houston’s own ‘Stonewall,’ spurring the first mass mobilization of gay and lesbian Houstonians. In the months after the protest, gay organizing in Houston noticeably increased. To make the most of this increase, Ray Hill and the Gay Political Caucus organized Town Hall I, a massive meeting of members of the gay community held in the Astroarena to discuss issues of the gay community, inciting a large part of the community to engage in political activism. [16]