Photo of the day: BOYCOTT BARILLA PASTA ! – Guido Barilla, president of century old pasta purveyors last week became the Anita Bryant of his time “I would never make a spot with a homosexual family,” Guido Barilla said on the Italy radio program La Zanzara (The Mosquito), according to Italian news agency ANSA. “Not out of a lack of respect but because I do not see it like they do. (My idea of) family is a classic family where the woman has a fundamental role.”
That bigoted small minded comment has caused an backlash spreading fear in the company’s accounting department as sales started to drop. At a open minded dinner table no longer will Russian Vodka and Italian Barilla pasta be served. This takes me back to 1977 when the right wing Christian Florida orange juice queen Anita Bryant declared her war on gays.
In 1977,Dade County Florida, passed an ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Bryant led a highly publicized campaign to repeal the ordinance as the leader of a coalition named Save Our Children. The campaign was based on conservative Christian beliefs regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality and the perceived threat of homosexual recruitment of children and child molestation. Bryant said:
“What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life. I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before.”
The campaign began an organized opposition to gay rights that spread across the nation. Jerry “I have sinned!” Falwell went to Miami to help her. Bryant made the following statements during the campaign: “As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children” and “If gays are granted rights, next we’ll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters.”She also added that “All America and all the world will hear what the people have said, and with God’s continued help we will prevail in our fight to repeal similar laws throughout the nation.” Well . . . Anita suffered a backlash like none that had been seen before. Her many commercial endorsements ceased one by one. TV show and concert appearances were canceled. She was heckled and booed wherever she went including having a pie thrown in her face.
Anita Bryant
If you want to stop or hurt someone – you hit them in the pocketbook which is exactly what we did! Secretly sold at the time (1977) in head shops, were rings that had razor blades hidden in their design. So, in the days before store camera surveillance, you went to the orange juice section of the grocery store – and let your ring hand slide over allllll the orange juice cartons. No juice = no $ale. 
Stores terrified of further vandalism stopped carrying Florida orange juice. In the end, gays won. Anita suffered bankruptcy and divorce after divorce finally being reduced to selling religious sunglasses. Yes, you read that right, they had scripture on the inside stems.
So Mr. Guido Barilla . . . I may not still have my razor blade ring, but – I will gladly poke my finger through the cellophane of all you pasta boxes in the local supermarkets. The tactic was very effective the first time. Ready everyone: POKE!
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September 30, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: "Lady and the Tramp", 1977, Anita Bryant, ANSA, anti Barilla protest, anti-gay sentiment, Barilla pasta, Bryant religious sunglasses, Christian right, Dade County Florida, Florida orange juice, gay activists, gay child molestation, gay rights movement, Guiod Barilla, Hans Von Rittern, homophobia, homophobic, Jerry Falwell, La Zanzara (The Mosquito), Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, religious right, Save our Children campaign | Leave a comment
STOP NORMALIZING RACISM AND VIOLENCE: This is Mazeda Uddin, the National Women’s Coordinator for the Alliance of South Asian Americans. She and I attended a vigil in Jackson Heights to address incidents of racial violence, anti-Muslim, anti-gay sentiment and other forms of hatred in our neighborhoods. In light of the recent tragic death of Sunando Sen, an India immigrant, who was pushed in front of the 7 Train in Sunnyside for being “one of them”. Attending yesterday afternoon were Council Members Danny Dromm and Jimmy Bramer, members of Desis Rising Up & Moving, Council on American Islamic Relations and other community leaders and clergy to put an end to these heinous crimes.
We are a city of immigrants. Immigration is what built New York, to turn on each other for our perceived differences is inexcusable.
See my original post of December 29, 2012 to read the sadly horrible story of Mr. Sunando Sen.
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January 9, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 7 train, american islamic relations, anti-gay sentiment, anti-Muslim, Council on American Islamic Relations, Desis Rising Up & Moving, Hans Von Rittern, heinous crimes, Jackson Heights, Mazeda Uddin, National Women's Coordinator for the Alliance of South Asian Americans, New York City, racial violence, south asian americans, subway, Sunando Sen, Sunnyside Gardens | Leave a comment
NEW YORK CITY - IN THE WIT OF AN EYE 