The Briggs Initiative was the first failure in a movement that started with the successful campaign headed by Anita Bryant and her organization Save Our Children in Dade County, Florida, to repeal a local gay rights ordinance.
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Openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk was instrumental in fighting the measure, and opposition from a variety of public figures from California Governor Ronald Reagan to President Jimmy Carter helped to defeat it.
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Singer and Florida Citrus Commission spokesperson Anita Bryant received national news coverage for her successful efforts to repeal a Dade County, Florida, ordinance preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation.
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As Reagan biographer Lou Cannon puts it, Reagan was “well aware that there were those who wanted him to duck the issue” but nevertheless “chose to state his convictions.”
Avengers: The Initiative | Initiative | Nicholas Briggs | Raymond Briggs | Strategic Defense Initiative | Arthur Briggs (rugby) | Briggs & Stratton | Wilma Briggs | Shannon Briggs | initiative | Central European Initiative | Walter Briggs, Sr. | Henry Briggs | Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario | Darwin Initiative | Austin Briggs | Ada Initiative | Peter Briggs | Initiative for Catalonia Greens | George N. Briggs | Benjamin Briggs | William Briggs | Walter Briggs, Jr. | The SyncML Initiative | Text Encoding Initiative | Ted Briggs | Paul Briggs | Open Source Initiative | OpenNet Initiative | North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative |
In 1978, Gearhart fought alongside Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay politicians in the U.S., to defeat California Proposition 6, known as the "Briggs Initiative."