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a heads up. This. Episode contains

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strong language, descriptions of violence and

0:36

a gay slur. It. Also

0:38

mentioned suicide. It. May not be

0:40

appropriate for some listeners. In.

0:44

The late nineteen sixties, Tom Ammiano

0:46

had a job he loved. He

0:48

worked as a special education teacher

0:50

at a public elementary school in

0:52

San Francisco. My. Keys periods was

0:54

were kids who. Are marginalized

0:56

and ridiculed and

0:58

mislabeled. Every day Tom

1:01

brought a nurturing spirit and a

1:03

big personality to the classroom. I

1:05

was kind of cute. As very a family it

1:07

people said. I was very funny. I had

1:09

a secret desire to be a stand up

1:12

comic. And a joke I made

1:14

was this they say I'm. You.

1:16

Can be game be a teacher. but show me

1:18

a room full of teachers and I'll show you

1:21

a gay bar or there you are. For

1:25

Tom, it wasn't just a joke,

1:27

that line captured the central conflict

1:30

of his life through as the

1:32

day time teaching. And the

1:34

nighttime disco bunny. The main thing

1:36

was, you know I've. Decided

1:38

it was best for me to. Really

1:41

embrace my identity as a

1:43

gay man. In

1:46

the Nineteen sixties, gay sex was

1:48

illegal in California and almost everywhere

1:50

else in the country. That meant

1:52

Tom and millions of other Americans

1:54

were presumed criminals. The police were

1:56

terrible. There is a lot of entrapment going

1:58

on. Pull. Police officers would

2:00

go undercover at gay bars, entice

2:02

their targets, then arrest them. There

2:05

was a risk for all gay people,

2:07

but Tom's job made him particularly vulnerable.

2:10

In California, teachers found guilty of sodomy,

2:12

having oral or anal sex, were at

2:15

risk of losing their certifications. If

2:17

Tom got outed, his career as an

2:19

educator could be over. The

2:21

bars were the only places you could

2:25

socialize. As a teacher, I

2:27

would kind of stealthily go to the cash

2:30

of what was considered, at that

2:32

time, a gay neighborhood. My

2:35

heart would be beating very, very strongly.

2:38

Despite the risk of being arrested or fired,

2:41

Tom felt freer and more fulfilled than he

2:43

ever had before. I mean, to

2:45

be frank, it was great to meet guys and hook

2:47

up, but the real epiphany is that

2:50

you met people and then they became your

2:52

chosen family. That dynamic

2:55

really did change me and

2:58

made me feel very affirmed about

3:00

who I was as a gay man.

3:05

By the mid-1970s, Tom had been a

3:07

teacher in San Francisco for seven years,

3:10

and the school district's policy was

3:12

basically, don't ask, don't tell. And

3:15

I said, this isn't working for me,

3:17

you know, we need to do something. Tom

3:20

decided to come out to colleagues he trusted, and he

3:23

found a couple of other teachers in San Francisco who'd

3:25

done the same. There was only like two

3:27

or three of us who were out. The

3:30

other closeted ones were deeply offended by

3:32

us and very much afraid. I

3:35

mean, I wanted to slap them, but, you know,

3:37

in fairness, they could have lost their jobs, they

3:39

weren't out to their family. Some

3:41

of them were married, and then there's always,

3:44

you know, don't rock the boat. Tom

3:46

wanted to rock the boat. With

3:48

a handful of out colleagues, he formed

3:50

a group called the Gay Teachers Coalition,

3:53

and in 1975, they found their first

3:56

fight. The issue was

3:58

a new school district hiring policy. It's

4:01

banned discrimination based on race, religion,

4:03

sex, and disability, but refusing to

4:05

hire someone because of their sexual

4:08

orientation, that was fair game.

4:11

Teachers like Tom wouldn't be protected at all. And

4:14

we decided to organize around that.

4:18

In June 1975, the Gay Teachers

4:21

Coalition held its first ever press

4:23

conference. They called for the

4:25

district to ban discrimination against lesbians and

4:27

gays. Made the front page

4:29

of the San Francisco Examiner, and

4:31

it said, Gay, gifted, and closeted.

4:34

Not a bad headline. And

4:36

right there above the fold was

4:38

Tom's photo. I had

4:40

a really bad perm and

4:42

a beard. Yeah, it looked

4:45

like Abby Hoffman on acid.

4:48

The article said he was an outstanding

4:50

teacher. It also said he

4:52

was terrified that someone might accuse him

4:54

of child abuse because of the malicious

4:57

lie that gay men, especially ones who

4:59

work with kids, are molesters. Tom

5:02

knew it was important to get his story out there.

5:04

But one article wouldn't convince the school board

5:07

to change its policy. He needed

5:09

to do more. We had this

5:11

protest, which was big in San

5:13

Francisco. There was always a protest. Tom

5:16

and his colleagues rounded up more than 200 people

5:18

and marched outside a school board meeting. Were

5:21

you nervous at all? Oh, yeah, I

5:23

had dry mouth. You know, I

5:25

was young and you're surrounded by people who are

5:27

supporting you, but also by cops. But

5:30

there was no going back. The

5:33

gay teachers and their allies stormed into

5:35

the building, singing as the

5:38

gays come marching in. And

5:40

then, with Tom and his group holding

5:42

their breath, the board members

5:44

took a new vote on the nondiscrimination policy.

5:50

This time, Tom's side won. Gay

5:53

teachers would be protected. We

5:55

were totally shocked. And

5:58

that vote really changed everything. We

6:01

went out and celebrated, lots of

6:03

tears. I don't think I got

6:05

home until 4 a.m. For

6:07

Tom Amiano, it felt like a huge

6:10

step forward. Like finally, he

6:12

could start living without fear. But

6:15

that sense of freedom wouldn't last. Because

6:17

two years later, a state legislator

6:20

named John Briggs would

6:22

make an extraordinary proposal. We

6:25

are going to restore morality to the classroom and

6:28

remove openly and blatant

6:30

homosexuals from influencing and teaching

6:32

our youth. This

6:35

is Slow Burn, season 9, Gaze

6:37

Against Briggs. I'm your host,

6:40

Christina Puterucci. Over

6:42

the next seven episodes, I'm going

6:44

to tell you about one of the

6:46

most consequential civil rights battles in American

6:48

history. On its surface, a

6:50

very simple proposition. Do you or

6:52

don't you want homosexuals teaching your children? In

6:55

the late 1970s, a moral panic was

6:58

sweeping across the United States, endangering

7:01

the jobs, safety, and fundamental

7:03

rights of gay people. It

7:05

all built up to a massive showdown

7:08

over the Briggs Initiative, a referendum to

7:10

ban gay teachers from California public schools.

7:14

For the first time ever, gay rights

7:16

and gay futures were put to a

7:18

statewide popular vote. And gay

7:20

Californians like Tom Amiano suddenly found themselves

7:22

at the center of the biggest fight

7:24

for gay rights the country had ever

7:27

seen. To have a

7:29

shot at beating John Briggs, they would have

7:31

to change the minds of millions of Californians

7:33

and take monumental risks, all

7:35

in the hope of securing a better life

7:37

for themselves and everyone who'd come after. People

7:41

think hope is this ephemeral,

7:43

hallmark, hard sentiment, but

7:45

hope is getting your ass kicked and getting

7:48

back up, you know, bloodied and all. Like

7:51

the drag queens say, take out the earrings,

7:53

sharpen the nails. Round two,

7:55

baby. This

7:58

is episode one. That

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so good I just sit back Road facilities lean

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forward. Through his

9:31

His Cleave Jones cod eg. oh

9:33

in the Us for in San

9:35

Francisco and Beck's Motor Lodge which

9:37

used to be a sex club

9:40

and den of iniquity. and to

9:42

a place where you could buy

9:44

any illicit drug you ordered. And

9:47

we're bringing that spirit back today. I

9:49

go. I'm not. I'm to have. Sex

9:53

Motor Lodge in the Castro is

9:55

one of those refurbished old motels

9:57

that leans hard into mid century

9:59

modern. It's I see their. When I

10:01

visited San Francisco earlier this year and invited

10:03

Queen Jones to come over for an interview,

10:06

I knew nothing about it's history when I

10:08

asked him to meet me there. I

10:11

have witnessed some bizarre oh shit here

10:14

is some people just wander in and

10:16

out and people that were really in

10:18

the mood which is computer get a

10:20

rooster teeth. Currently their door open up.

10:24

Growing. Up Cleave couldn't imagine anything

10:26

like what he'd see affects Motor

10:29

Lodge. All he knew was that

10:31

he was somehow different. I

10:34

think so. I was pro maybe twelve

10:36

or thirteen? When. I kind

10:38

of put the words to because

10:40

my father was a clinical psychologist.

10:42

So the house was filled with

10:44

books and I looked it up

10:46

earners. Oh, I'm in trouble now.

10:50

Clean. Pants were Quaker and the whole

10:52

family was involved in the civil rights movement.

10:54

But. No matter how progressive their politics

10:57

where. They weren't going to accept

10:59

a gay kid. I was.

11:01

Pretty. Certain and was later

11:03

confirmed by conversations that they

11:06

would have had me committees

11:08

and I was terrified. I

11:11

was planning to kill myself. I

11:15

did not see any

11:17

possibility of any hope.

11:22

It wasn't until his junior year of high

11:24

school and Phoenix Arizona that Cleave found something

11:26

to. Reach for. He discovered

11:29

it in a school library while he was

11:31

skipping gym class to avoid the bullies. I.

11:33

Got the night and seen seventy

11:36

one year in review issue. Of

11:38

Life Magazine and they had a

11:40

big story like ten pages about

11:42

his new movement called game of Really

11:45

Sad. And.

11:51

I remembered his just trembling as I

11:53

read it because I and with if

11:56

it a kind of inconceivable now but

11:58

that was the moment while I found

12:00

out I wasn't the only one. I

12:04

mean, I had read that

12:06

there were these people, but

12:08

in my mind they were

12:10

all criminals and frightening, horrifying

12:12

people. And to find out

12:15

that there there was this. Community.

12:17

That existed were was just

12:20

an extraordinary. Revelation.

12:23

And then I thought well if I can just

12:25

had through eyes com many get the hell out

12:27

of Phoenix. As soon

12:29

as clean graduated he started hitchhiking. He

12:31

had twenty bucks in his pocket and

12:33

he knew exactly where he needed to

12:35

go. In

12:43

the Nineteen sixties, San Francisco had

12:45

been the heartbeat of hippie culture,

12:47

the home of the Summer of

12:50

love, a hotbed of protest and

12:52

radical politics. In the Nineteen seventies,

12:54

He was also the capital of

12:56

Gay America, as. A

12:58

city has emerged where homosexuality is

13:01

not only tolerated but thrives. To

13:03

me to as it seemed like

13:05

ours that this would be the

13:07

emerald City. The

13:10

other Greyhound buses would pull in

13:12

and another twenty thirty kids would

13:14

come off the bus from Iowa

13:16

everyday. Between Nineteen

13:18

Seventy Two and Nineteen Seventy Seven,

13:21

about a hundred thousand gave people

13:23

moved to San Francisco roughly one

13:25

seventh of the city. Population.

13:28

That then people use the term lesbian

13:30

and gay or just gay to describe

13:32

their community. So. That's what I'll be using

13:34

tail. The gaze

13:36

of San Francisco live all over the. Past

13:41

grocery, it's become a homosexual

13:43

mecca of the western world.

13:49

We are on Castro

13:51

Street. We are walking

13:53

up from a straight

13:55

up to market and

13:57

seventy had come together.

14:01

Root Mahaney teams of Salmon Cisco from

14:03

Indiana in Nineteen Seventy One. She.

14:05

Lived with a bunch of other lesbians just

14:08

blocks from where I met her earlier this

14:10

year and the Castro District. Ruth

14:12

and her roommate were all involved in

14:15

a million political causes and reveling in

14:17

a kind. Of social life they

14:19

could find anywhere else remember. Friend

14:21

of mine came up physicists in

14:24

San Diego over holding hands and

14:26

she was totally amazed at with

14:28

a hobby in. Mind

14:33

blowing for her, and she still remembers that I've heard

14:35

her talk about a. Moment

14:38

she realized we could do that. Gave

14:41

weren't the only ones drawn to the

14:44

Castro Torrent would ride through on buses

14:46

checking out the strange neighborhood they'd heard

14:48

about on the new, a place where

14:51

men touched the price of other men

14:53

and women kissed in bars. Or.

15:03

Maybe three quarters of selling. Stolen.

15:09

Or houses of windows.

15:14

I roommate and I was just grab

15:17

each other and. Make

15:20

out. You are not

15:22

even with as. Of are

15:24

worthless. Sort of put on a show since

15:26

they had paid good money to come see.

15:28

weird thing save your we are. So

15:32

many of the gays he moved to

15:34

the Castro had grown up believing the

15:36

sexy wanted was shameful, the love they

15:38

wanted was wrong, and the lives they

15:40

wanted were impossible. To them,

15:42

San Francisco felt like a miracle. There.

15:45

Were bars where butch lesbians would

15:47

play pool, get in fights on

15:50

the sidewalk, erm. cowboy bars where

15:52

they played country western music in

15:54

the boys would live there's. i

15:57

just thought this is so

16:00

beautiful. There was also

16:02

a spot called Twin Peaks, supposedly

16:04

the first gay bar in the country to

16:06

have plate glass windows revealing the patrons to

16:08

the outside world. It's

16:10

still open today and Cleve and

16:12

I, by total coincidence, had both gone

16:14

there the night before our interview. And I

16:17

used to make fun of that bar because

16:19

it was full of older men and we

16:21

would call it the glass coffin or the

16:23

wrinkle room. I tried

16:25

not to be offended. When

16:29

Cleve moved to San Francisco, he had no

16:31

money, no job, and no place

16:34

to live. But he made

16:36

it work. He found roommates and got

16:38

a gig as a telemarketer. And

16:40

at night, he kept busy. It

16:43

was basically a candy store for people

16:45

who had been told they couldn't eat

16:47

sweets their whole lives. This

16:50

is not an ordinary bookstore. It's

16:52

one of San Francisco's eight glory holes,

16:55

a place where gay men come for

16:57

anonymous sex. And there

17:00

was a casual acceptance that everybody was

17:02

going to be having as much sex

17:04

as they wanted. It

17:07

seems so odd to use

17:09

this word, but there was an innocence to it.

17:12

And we were all just kind of

17:14

falling in love with each other. You could walk

17:16

down the street and see somebody and make eye

17:19

contact and walk a few more feet and then

17:21

glance back over your shoulder and the next thing

17:23

you know, you're

17:25

in bed and then you embark on

17:27

a romantic adventure. When I

17:32

sat down to chat with Ruth, she

17:34

told me that despite all the newfound

17:36

freedom, the Castro wasn't a

17:38

gay utopia. In the

17:40

mid-1970s, there were tensions within the gay

17:43

scene between groups that didn't necessarily see

17:45

themselves as part of a single community.

17:49

Gay men were really in

17:51

this phase of sort of

17:53

having the Castro for the first time,

17:55

having a space, a public space that

17:58

they could be in. be

18:00

out and be safe. And

18:03

women being there was not part of their

18:05

plan. We would

18:07

walk down the street and I remember they didn't

18:09

step aside. We

18:12

had to move, not them. But

18:14

mostly, it was straight people who brought hostility

18:16

to the Castro. A

18:19

lot of longtime residents weren't thrilled

18:21

to suddenly find themselves in a

18:23

flourishing gabrehood. And no

18:25

matter how gay San Francisco got, anywhere

18:27

gay people gathered inevitably became a

18:30

target. There would be

18:32

roving gangs of kids that would come in. They'd

18:34

love to wait till two o'clock in the morning.

18:36

And then people would be

18:38

leaving clubs and bars. And there were

18:40

many assaults. We were pretty much constantly

18:43

under attack. He threw what

18:46

I think was a spark

18:48

plug wrench. Managed to break

18:51

a cheekbone. They knocked me

18:53

down and started beating me with their

18:55

hands and their feet, their elbows. And

18:58

said, uh, queer faggot, we're gonna beat the shit

19:00

out of you. Something that effect, uh, we're gonna

19:02

kill you. In

19:05

just three months in 1974, there

19:08

were 60 documented beatings of gay people

19:10

in San Francisco, largely in the

19:13

Castro. Gay communities were sick

19:15

of it. And they were starting

19:17

to get organized. The

19:19

gay liberation movement really started to accelerate a

19:21

few years earlier in 1969. That

19:25

June, transgender and gay people staged

19:27

a multi-day uprising against police harassment

19:29

at the Stonewall Bar in Greenwich

19:31

Village. They were not

19:33

leaders of the gay community. They were

19:35

just drag queens and street kids. The

19:37

bar people. Because they fought

19:40

back and because other people joined them, a

19:42

movement was forged. In the

19:44

four years after the riots, the number of

19:46

gay and lesbian groups in the US exploded

19:48

from 50 to 800, including

19:51

organizations that would become leading political

19:53

forces, like Lambda Legal and the

19:55

National Gay Task Force. The

19:58

movement got results. In 1973, the

20:01

American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality

20:03

from its list of mental

20:05

disorders. And activists all over

20:07

the place were fighting for new laws against

20:10

discrimination. Many

20:12

homosexuals have become active in the defense

20:14

of what they call gay rights. There

20:26

were gay rights victories in cities

20:28

like Eugene, Oregon, St. Paul, Minnesota,

20:30

and Wichita, Kansas. But

20:32

at the state level, progress was a

20:34

whole lot slower. In

20:37

California, gay sex was still a crime

20:39

because of the ban on sodomy. In

20:42

those years, thousands of gay men

20:44

were arrested every year in San

20:46

Francisco for consenting sexual behavior between

20:48

adults. Activists

20:51

were determined to get the sodomy ban off the

20:53

books. And there was

20:55

a straight politician willing to fight alongside them.

20:58

My name is Willie Brown. That's

21:01

actually one word. I prefer one

21:03

word that way. Willie

21:05

Brown began serving in the California State Assembly

21:07

in 1965, representing a slice of

21:10

San Francisco. And

21:13

in that 280,000 people, I'm certain that there

21:16

were a lot of gay people, but I

21:18

wouldn't call it a gay district. I

21:20

would call it a very enlightened

21:23

district. Willie Brown

21:25

was one of the state's most prominent black

21:27

leaders, and he had a reputation as a

21:29

warrior for civil rights. He

21:31

also had a history, as a lawyer,

21:34

of defending people charged with violating the

21:36

sodomy ban. It was just natural

21:38

for me to be an

21:40

advocate for equal opportunity

21:43

for everybody, period.

21:46

At the urging of gay activists, he tried to

21:48

pass a bill in 1969 that would legalize all

21:52

sex between consenting adults. It

21:54

applied to straight Californians, too, who technically

21:56

could be arrested for having oral or

21:58

anal sex. But everyone knew

22:01

it would be a landmark victory for gay

22:03

people. The media called it

22:05

the Homosexual Bill of Rights. And

22:08

it didn't stand a chance of getting passed. I

22:11

could not get one motion to

22:13

pass my bill. Brown's

22:15

legislation was defeated six years in

22:18

a row. And people had all

22:20

kinds of reasons why they didn't want to support

22:22

my bill. But

22:24

most of them had to deal with the

22:27

whole business of whether or

22:29

not politically it was

22:31

a sound decision. Finally,

22:34

in 1975, the political winds started to shift. Brown's

22:40

bill passed in the state assembly, and it looked like

22:42

it might have a chance in the state Senate. The

22:45

Senate Majority Leader, a liberal Democrat named

22:47

George Moscone, was running for mayor of

22:49

San Francisco. And given

22:51

the rising population of gay voters in

22:53

the city, the sodomy ban repeal was

22:56

a potential golden ticket for his campaign.

22:59

But Moscone couldn't quite get the bill

23:01

over the line. The vote

23:03

was 20 to 20. And

23:06

we knew that if we could get a

23:08

tie vote in the Senate, that

23:11

person who serves as

23:13

a lieutenant governor can cast the

23:15

deciding vote. The

23:18

lieutenant governor, Democrat Mervyn Dymally, supported

23:20

the bill. But there

23:23

was a problem. The

23:25

lieutenant governor was in

23:27

Colorado. Dymally found a flight

23:29

to San Francisco, but he still needed to

23:31

get from there to the state capital. So

23:34

at the Denver airport, he got on a

23:36

public phone to try to convince the California

23:38

Highway Patrol to meet him with a helicopter.

23:41

Here's the late Mervyn Dymally in a normal history.

23:44

I began screaming. I'm

23:46

the lieutenant governor of California. These

23:49

white folks are walking by looking at me as

23:51

a crazy man. Here's this

23:53

black guy hollering his lieutenant governor

23:55

of California. That man that you

23:57

picked me up. Sacramento,

24:00

George Moscone had invoked a special rule

24:03

that allowed him to literally lock the

24:05

Senate doors while Daimly was en route.

24:08

No one could leave, so the vote was still

24:10

active. Seven

24:12

hours and one helicopter ride

24:14

later, Daimly finally arrived. So

24:18

I flew to the Senate podium and

24:21

presented, I didn't know what was going on. I said, Mr.

24:24

Clerk, how has the president of the

24:26

Senate voted? He

24:28

has not voted, sir. President

24:32

votes aye. And lo and

24:34

behold, he cast the

24:37

tie-breaking vote. With

24:39

the passage of Willie Brown's

24:41

bill in 1975, California decriminalized

24:44

sodomy. And

24:46

one section of the new law focused on

24:48

a specific group of people. It

24:50

said that since sodomy was now

24:52

legal, gay teachers like Tom Amiano could

24:55

no longer lose their credentials for committing

24:57

it. We felt

24:59

invigorated, we felt empowered through

25:02

a group effort, you know, the gay

25:04

movement. The new law

25:06

was a lifeline for gay educators. But

25:09

for social conservatives, it was an

25:11

outrage. And one state legislator,

25:13

a Republican from Orange County

25:16

named John Briggs, wasn't going

25:18

to stand for it. The

25:20

California legislature repealed homosexuality

25:23

as a crime and therefore making

25:25

it possible to teach in

25:28

our public classrooms as open,

25:30

avowed public and or militant

25:32

homosexual teachers. John

25:35

Briggs was in the assembly with you at the

25:37

time. Do you remember him at all? Oh,

25:40

do I remember him? Of

25:42

course I remember John Briggs. He

25:45

constantly resorted to

25:49

fictional accounts of people's

25:51

lives and how they

25:53

conducted themselves. So he

25:55

would insinuate that you and other supporters

25:57

were gay? Oh yes. The

26:00

That regularly. He. Made a

26:02

career. Of Fry in

26:04

his best to defeat. And

26:07

my efforts and I knew he would

26:09

spend the rest will live thread. Will

26:16

be like as. This.

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wherever. You get your pledge, California.

27:30

State Senator John Briggs had a

27:33

reputation as a crank and not

27:35

a particularly exceptional one. The

27:38

label them part of the cuckoo

27:40

clock is the times of the

27:42

although server guys orange county seat

27:44

of like that one. That's

27:47

John Briggs. His son Ron Briggs John

27:49

died and Twenty Twenty Run worked for

27:51

his dad back in the Nineteen seventies

27:53

and he remembers his father looking for

27:55

an issue that would help him stand

27:57

out. He landed on one.

28:00

most divisive topics in American life.

28:02

Gay rights. He probably loved the

28:05

friction. He liked that kind of combat. I

28:07

entered into this fray when I disagreed violently

28:09

with the right of teachers to teach publicly

28:13

in California as homosexuals. I was

28:15

assured no, that would never happen,

28:17

Senator, never. Well, it is

28:19

happening. In the

28:21

mid-70s, John Briggs was watching gay

28:23

activists notch victories all over the

28:26

United States. He saw his

28:28

own state legalize gay sex in

28:30

1975, the same year as Tommamiano's

28:32

victory over the San Francisco school

28:34

board. And Briggs

28:36

could see a backlash beginning to form. It

28:39

was starting all the way across the

28:41

country with a Southern Baptist former beauty

28:43

queen who sang the jingle for Florida

28:45

orange juice. Orange

28:47

juice with natural vitamin

28:50

C from the Florida

28:52

sunshine. This

28:54

is Orange Bird in the Florida sunshine. Anita

28:56

Bryant, an entertainer and mother of

28:58

four, says she wants to save

29:00

her children from homosexual influences. Someone

29:03

who practices homosexuality shall not inherit the

29:05

kingdom of God. God is very

29:08

plain on that. In her

29:10

rise to fame, Bryant had never gotten

29:12

involved in politics. But in

29:14

1977, Dade County, Florida, the home

29:16

of Miami, made it illegal

29:18

to discriminate against gays in employment and

29:21

housing. As a Dade

29:23

County resident, Bryant decided she had to

29:25

do something. Within

29:27

weeks of that nondiscrimination ordinance getting

29:29

passed, she co-founded a group to try

29:31

to repeal it. It was called

29:34

Save Our Children. The

29:36

Save Our Children group is appealing to

29:38

parental anxieties, saying gays

29:40

will fault their homosexuality before

29:43

impressionable children. Homosexuals

29:45

cannot reproduce biologically, but they

29:47

have to reproduce by recruiting

29:50

our children. In

29:52

television ads, Bryant's group warns that

29:54

Miami was in danger of becoming

29:57

San Francisco, a hyper-sexualized

29:59

gay community. Help gave. It's a

30:01

parade of homosexual men hugging other men,

30:03

cavorting with little boys wearing dresses and

30:05

make up. the same people who turned

30:08

San Francisco into a hotbed of homosexuality.

30:10

Want to do the same thing? The

30:12

Florida. Gay people had made

30:14

San Francisco into a he then one of

30:16

the few places in the country where they could

30:19

live openly. Now save our

30:21

children with distorting their joy into

30:23

something sinister. And there was

30:25

endless hand wringing about gay people who

30:28

held one particular. Job or rather

30:30

burn law buildings down and I

30:32

will do so if necessary before

30:34

I ever a long as this

30:36

enormous effort to teach is hop.

30:38

Best Christian Academy. Just.

30:45

This pernicious evolve slur that gay

30:47

people or child molesters cleave Jones

30:49

Again, your children are safe as

30:51

if is gay people around you

30:54

can't have them in the schools.

30:56

You can't have them. Anywhere,

31:00

In. Just Three Weeks Save Our

31:03

Children collected over sixty thousand

31:05

signatures. Way. More than enough to get

31:07

a referendum on the ballot. I. Think most

31:09

of us saw Anita Bryant.

31:12

As. A fool. But. Recognize

31:14

the danger. When. You

31:16

say that as an entire class

31:19

of people are likely to abuse

31:21

your children, that credit justifies any

31:23

horrible acts and you might want

31:25

to take against them. Gays.

31:28

And lesbians across the country were horrified

31:30

by what Anita Bryant had on least.

31:33

They. Raise Money to fight her campaign! And

31:35

gay bars everywhere swapped the O J in

31:37

their screwdrivers for Apple juice. Or

31:43

song has been written to rally support against

31:45

her. Meanwhile.

31:53

Gay activists in Miami were scrambling.

31:56

They'd. worked hard to pass an ordinance

31:58

that protected gays from discrimination Now,

32:00

they'd have to fight to keep it.

32:03

The homosexuals are also running a

32:05

political-type campaign, complete with bumper stickers,

32:07

bags, and buttons. But

32:09

they are carefully avoiding overt signs

32:11

of homosexuality because they feel it

32:13

is a fight for individual liberty

32:15

and not just gay rights. In

32:19

the campaign's final weeks, proponents on

32:21

both sides made one last push to

32:24

get out their messages, including

32:26

one politician who was a long way

32:28

from home. California, state Senator

32:30

John Briggs, who with his wife, arrives

32:33

Sunday to help with the last-minute work.

32:36

Senator, what is it about this campaign in

32:38

Dade County, Florida that brings you from California?

32:42

Well, I believe it's the beginning

32:44

of the sexual counter-revolution in this country, and I

32:46

wanted to be here and be a part of

32:48

it and lend an effort to make sure that

32:50

it happened, that the ordinance

32:52

was repealed. On

32:55

June 7, 1977, it was time for the voters to decide. This

33:00

is a WTVJ live-eye special

33:02

election report at Dade

33:04

County election headquarters. Tom

33:07

Amiano was following the news from San Francisco.

33:10

Getting to vote results, and it really looked

33:12

bad. It was a decisive

33:15

end to Dade County's homosexual controversy. Voters

33:18

in the Miami area repealed civil rights

33:20

for gay people by a two-to-one margin.

33:24

Their stomach sank. What's

33:26

wrong with the world? What's wrong with us? Nearly

33:30

half the county's registered voters had turned out

33:32

on a random day in June, and they

33:35

were fired up to take back the inch

33:37

of progress that gays had struggled to earn.

33:41

For Anita Bryan and her supporters, it

33:43

was a proof of concept. Tonight,

33:46

the laws of God and the

33:48

cultural values of man have

33:50

been vindicated. The people of Dade

33:53

County, the normal majority, have

33:55

said, enough, enough,

33:58

Enough. John

34:01

Briggs with that Anita Bryant Victory

34:03

press conference that night celebrating alongside

34:05

her. From. His perspective: the

34:07

Dade County vote was an extraordinary

34:09

triumph and a sign that he'd

34:11

found the perfect wedge issue to

34:13

boost his political career. Gay

34:16

people looks like the ideal target.

34:19

Because. If voters in Miami could repeal

34:21

a non discrimination law in a

34:23

liberal city with a thriving gay

34:25

population. What? Chance to gaze.

34:28

Haven't California or anywhere else. The

34:47

night and had a Bryant was spontaneous.

34:49

Demonstrations broke out in a handful of

34:51

Us. Cities including Some and Cisco a

34:53

gay journalist. So to some of the

34:56

protesters they're like why did you come

34:58

here tonight and agree after get off

35:00

raf start showing strength right now says

35:02

it's getting to be too late were

35:05

you recruited so they abide by yourselves

35:07

Eight years as a child our came

35:09

out quite naturally. Think they're related

35:11

the Bay Area at all? Yeah, because they

35:14

have. Mailed out of Sodom and Gomorrah

35:16

I have unrealistic on crime rate of

35:18

our during. The.

35:20

Day of the Dade County vote became

35:22

known as Orange Tuesday, a moment gay

35:24

activists would look back on as a

35:27

tragedy, a turning point, and a wake

35:29

up call. In Miami,

35:31

the repeal had immediate consequences. Multiple

35:34

lesbians and gay men were fired from

35:36

their job the very next day, including

35:38

a secretary who worked for the county

35:41

government for fifteen years. There's.

35:43

Also a series of assault south side Dade

35:45

County gay bars. One. Gay man

35:47

was shot with a pellet gun and two

35:49

others were badly beaten. And.

35:51

Then. To two weeks after orange

35:54

To say. The violence came to

35:56

San Francisco. will

35:58

be back in a minute A

36:13

collision between a Chinese jet and an

36:15

American spy plane. He came

36:18

and rammed into our left wing. With

36:20

relations increasingly strained, what are the chances

36:22

of things spinning out of control? The

36:25

Western world was asleep. I'm

36:27

Gordon Carrera. I'll be exploring the friction

36:29

in this most important of relationships and

36:31

asking, has the West taken its eye

36:33

off the ball? You cannot

36:35

ignore China. From BBC Radio

36:37

4, this is Shadow War, China and

36:39

the West. Listen wherever you get your

36:42

podcasts. In

36:50

the days after John Briggs got back

36:52

from celebrating Anita Bryant's victory in Florida,

36:54

he proposed a resolution in the California

36:57

Senate. It was a commendation

36:59

for Bryant, praising what he

37:01

called her courageous stand to

37:03

protect American children from exposure

37:05

to blatant homosexuality. The

37:07

resolution died in committee. That

37:09

same week, Robert Hillsborough, a 33-year-old

37:11

gardener who worked for the city

37:14

of San Francisco, went out

37:16

dancing with his boyfriend. They

37:19

ended up at a gay bar called Oil

37:21

Can Harry's, a disco with parquet floors and

37:23

Florida ceiling mirrors. As the

37:25

night wound down, they stopped at a hamburger place

37:27

on their way home. And in

37:29

the parking lot, they got taunted by four young

37:32

men who clocked them as gay. When

37:34

the couple drove away, the four men followed

37:37

and attacked them outside their apartment building in

37:39

the Mission District. Robert

37:41

Hillsborough's boyfriend managed to get away, but

37:44

Robert couldn't escape. Witnesses

37:46

watched him get stabbed over and over again

37:48

in the middle of the street while his

37:51

attacker yelled a homophobic slur. Robert

37:56

died of his wounds that night. The

38:01

next day, his friends posted signs in

38:03

the Castro to warn the gay community. And

38:07

it said our friend Robert Hillsborough

38:09

was killed last night by young

38:12

thugs screaming fag fag. That's

38:15

Gwen Craig. She saw one of

38:17

those signs in a drugstore window when she was walking

38:19

in the Castro with a friend. It

38:21

went on to give a few gruesome details.

38:24

We said this is terrible. Gwen

38:27

and her friend wanted to learn more about

38:29

how a gay man was murdered so close

38:31

to where they lived in the heart of

38:33

gay San Francisco. We went to the newspaper

38:36

stand nearby. We took out the newspaper. Finally,

38:39

we found something on page 42. Young

38:42

man stabbed in the Mission District

38:44

and there was nothing

38:47

about what had been said

38:49

by the perpetrators or anything. We said this

38:51

is wrong. They're not telling

38:53

the story. They're not telling the full implications

38:55

of this. Gwen was certain

38:58

that the story of Robert Hillsborough's murder didn't

39:00

begin the night he was killed. What

39:04

happened was Anita Bryant. What happened

39:06

was Dade County, Florida. She

39:09

wasn't the only one who felt that way. Robert

39:12

Hillsborough's mother and brother both said that

39:14

Anita Bryant's anti-gay crusade helped create the

39:17

climate for his killing. And

39:19

in the days after Robert's death, a

39:21

rumor spread that the connection to Bryant

39:23

was even more explicit. Witnesses have told

39:26

police that the accused murderers in

39:28

stabbing Hillsborough more than 15

39:30

times said, here's one for Anita.

39:34

Gwen was 26 and she hadn't planned on

39:36

becoming an activist when she moved to San

39:39

Francisco two years earlier. She

39:41

just wanted to get away from the long Chicago

39:43

winters and soak in the lesbian social scene.

39:46

But Anita Bryant's campaign had left her

39:48

shaken. People who

39:50

were like me, who had never felt, you

39:52

know, we're here to, you know, to

39:54

be a political movement, were saying,

39:56

yeah, it's time for me to

39:58

be engaged. Gwen

40:01

joined an activist group that popped up in the wake

40:03

of the Dade County vote. She even

40:05

agreed to be the media coordinator, although she

40:07

barely knew what that meant. Now,

40:10

appalled by the coverage of Robert Hillsborough's

40:13

murder, she borrowed her neighbor's electric typewriter

40:15

and banged out a press release. We

40:17

blame the Anita Bryant's of the world

40:19

because their campaigns are stirring up, you

40:22

know, this kind of hatred. And

40:24

we drove around to the radio stations

40:26

and the TV stations and the newspaper

40:29

offices and we handed out our little

40:31

press release and we kind

40:33

of go, okay, thank you. Gwen

40:36

didn't think anything would come of it, but it

40:38

felt good to do something in response to

40:40

such a heinous crime. Went

40:43

home and went to bed and I got a call first

40:45

thing I think around 5.30 in the morning, the

40:47

next morning, and it was a

40:49

radio guy saying, hi, this is Sonja from radio, blah,

40:51

blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm live on the air in

40:54

about five minutes and I've got your press release here.

40:56

And I think, you know, if you could read it

40:58

live on the air, that would really work best for

41:00

us. So do you have a copy right there? From

41:03

that moment forward for the rest of the

41:05

day, I got no break. With

41:08

Gwen's first ever press release,

41:10

Robert Hillsborough's murder got the

41:12

coverage it deserved and it

41:14

became the story of the

41:16

week. It moved from

41:18

being page 42 to page one.

41:29

A few days later, on June 26, San

41:32

Francisco's gay community held a parade.

41:35

It had been scheduled as part of the

41:37

annual commemorations of the Stonewall Riots, what would

41:40

later be called Pride. But

41:43

in 1977, after the loss in Miami

41:45

and the murder of Robert Hillsborough, everything

41:47

felt more political and more charged.

41:51

We are all here today for what

41:53

was in the past a day of

41:55

gayity and great joy and a statement

41:57

of pride. The mood these days is

41:59

just as different. The parade has become

42:01

a march. All

42:04

over the country, the rage over Dade

42:06

County brought gay Americans into the streets.

42:09

In Kansas City, dozens of people came

42:12

together in the first public display of

42:14

the local gay community. In

42:16

New York, tens of thousands paraded through

42:18

the streets. And then there

42:21

was San Francisco's gay freedom day. At

42:23

the time, the largest gay demonstration

42:25

in history, with an estimated 200,000

42:27

people. It's

42:29

a new militancy in the gay movement and it's

42:32

here today. No more Dade County for

42:34

us, honey. No more. This is just,

42:36

you know, a sign of gay power. What we can do if

42:38

we all get together, we so rarely do this. We gotta do

42:40

it more often. One contingent in

42:42

San Francisco carried a bunch of giant

42:45

portraits on sticks. It

42:47

was a lineup of murderous despots, Adolf

42:49

Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Idi

42:51

Amin, and then with

42:54

her coiffed hair and megawatt

42:56

smile, Anita Bryant. I

42:59

was aroused by the disgusting campaign

43:01

that this woman in Florida conducted.

43:03

Then, of course, as so many

43:05

San Franciscans were, I was

43:07

very appalled by the murder of

43:09

the young man. That's why I

43:11

came. Robert

43:16

Hillsborough didn't live to see this demonstration

43:19

of gay power. He didn't

43:21

live to see flags in San Francisco lowered

43:23

to half staff in his honor and he

43:25

didn't live to see how his own community

43:27

remembered him at Gay Freedom Day. On

43:31

the steps of City Hall, I will never forget

43:33

it. I used to always cry when

43:35

I told this story. There

43:37

were flowers that people had

43:39

brought for Robert Hillsborough.

43:42

Flowers were placed in the steps of City Hall in

43:45

honor of a gay city gardener brutally stabbed

43:47

to death by teenagers earlier in the week.

43:50

I just looked at that and thought, you

43:52

know, page 42. And,

43:58

you know, now people know. who

44:00

he is. And they

44:03

know why he died. And they

44:05

know that we got to do

44:07

something to stop this. Because

44:10

we have our enemies and they are

44:13

not going to stop. Obviously, they're just

44:15

getting started. Gwen

44:19

was right. Around the time that

44:21

she was memorializing Robert Hillsborough, John Briggs

44:23

was promoting a bill in the state

44:26

Senate, a proposal to ban

44:28

gay people from working in California

44:30

public schools. That

44:32

first effort didn't end up going anywhere. It

44:35

turned out Briggs had missed a legislative deadline.

44:39

But there was another route he could take, one

44:41

that would get him and his idea even more

44:43

attention. He could bring the

44:45

plan directly to the people of California and

44:48

let them vote on whether gay people belonged

44:50

in schools. As I put

44:52

this initiative in, I felt I had

44:54

one incumbent duty upon myself as one

44:56

man, just one

44:58

man, to bring it to the attention of the

45:00

California voters to allow them to vote on it.

45:03

The proposal would become known as the

45:05

Briggs Initiative. It isolated

45:07

and amplified the most incendiary

45:10

talking point from Anita Bryant's

45:12

Miami campaign. The idea

45:14

that gay people, and gay

45:16

teachers specifically, were dangerous child

45:18

molesters, and it wouldn't just

45:20

threaten the livelihoods of thousands of gay educators,

45:23

it would be a trial balloon, testing

45:25

the public appetite for purging gay people

45:27

from entire segments of society. Please,

45:30

James. We were

45:33

afraid of prison. We were afraid of massive

45:35

levels of violence. And then what if this

45:37

spreads to other industries? What if they decide

45:39

we can't work in hospitals? It

45:42

would give license and fuel

45:45

to everybody that opposed us. So

45:47

the stakes were very, very high and

45:50

we didn't think we had a chance. Coming

45:56

up this season on slow burn. I

46:00

expect we can't let this happen

46:02

in California. We lose

46:04

here. It'll be 50 years

46:06

before we ever get back up again.

46:09

It was like, I've never run

46:11

a campaign before. I'm

46:13

told that lesbians can't raise money. And

46:16

she said, watch me, bitch. You

46:18

know, the door opens, and there's this

46:20

incredible man. I mean, Ronald Reagan was

46:23

the real deal. The

46:25

name of Bobby Nelson and

46:28

the name to the group show. So,

46:31

tons of thousands of pissed-off

46:34

gay guys and lesbians roaring

46:37

down market speed. One

46:40

thing's for sure, the size of this crowd

46:42

underlines the fact that the hottest issue in

46:44

next November's elections will be the Briggs Initiative.

46:51

And in our next episode, the

46:53

campaign to ban gay teachers gets off

46:55

to an explosive start. Did

46:58

it make your dad feel more important

47:00

that somebody wanted to assassinate him? Oh,

47:03

I think he loved it. Can't

47:18

wait for next week's episode? Listen to it

47:20

now. Immediately unlock the

47:23

first five episodes of Slow Burn

47:25

Gaze Against Briggs by subscribing to Slate

47:27

Plus. Your subscription also gets

47:29

you ad-free listening across all your

47:31

favorite Slate podcasts, plus

47:34

other member-exclusive content. Join

47:36

now by clicking subscribe at the top of

47:38

the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts,

47:41

or visit slate.com/Slow Burn Plus to

47:43

get access wherever you listen. Thanks!

48:00

suicide prevention lifeline anytime. Just

48:02

dial 988 or visit 988lifeline.org. Slowburn

48:08

is produced by Sophie Summergrad, Kelly Jones,

48:11

and Joel Meyer. Josh

48:13

Levine is the editorial director of Slowburn.

48:16

Derek John is our executive producer. Susan

48:19

Matthews is Slate's executive editor. Merit

48:22

Jacob is our senior technical director. We

48:24

had engineering help from Patrick Fort and

48:26

Madeleine Duchamp. Our theme

48:29

music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Ivy

48:32

Leis Simones did the cover art, which

48:34

features an image of Silvana Nova from

48:36

a poster designed by Larry Hermsen and

48:38

the Too Much Graphics Collective. We

48:41

had production help from Emily Gaddick,

48:43

Jude Joffe-Blox, Dave Clark McCoy at

48:45

StudioPods Media, and Women's Audio Mission

48:48

in San Francisco. Some

48:50

of the audio you heard in

48:52

our show comes courtesy of the

48:54

Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society.

48:57

Special thanks to Isaac Selman at

48:59

the GLBT Historical Society, Lillian

49:02

Faderman, Rami Khalil, Fred Fijas,

49:04

Rachel Strom, and Deb Greenspan.

49:08

And to Slate's Evan Chung,

49:10

Madeleine Duchamp, June Thomas, Brian

49:13

Louder, Katie Shepherd, Seth Brown,

49:15

Katie Rayford, Caitlyn Schneider, Alexandra

49:18

Cole, Joshua Metcalf, Heidi

49:20

Strom Moon, Hilary Frye, and Alicia

49:23

Montgomery, Slate's VP of Audio. Thanks

49:26

for listening. Hi,

49:34

I'm Josh Levine. My

49:36

podcast, The Queen, tells the story

49:38

of Linda Taylor. She

49:40

was a con artist, a kidnapper, and

49:43

maybe even a murderer. She

49:45

was also given the title The Welfare Queen,

49:48

and her story was used by Ronald Reagan

49:50

to justify slashing aid to the poor. Now

49:53

it's time to hear her real story.

49:56

Over the course of four episodes, you'll

49:58

Find out what was done to. Them into Taylor

50:00

need you to to others and will

50:03

be done in her name. The that

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the were less know this for me

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is that people will come their own

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conclusions based on what their prejudices are

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subscribed to The Queen on out of

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podcasts or wherever you're listening right now.