Along with Orville Redenbacher, Marie Osmond, Phyllis Diller and Chubby Checker, Anita Bryant ranked as one of my first public figure interviews as a young reporter.

Anita Bryant, a former Miss Oklahoma and popular singer who became known over the second half of her life for her outspoken opposition to gay rights, has died.

Anita Bryant, who has died aged 84, was a 1960s pop singer, former beauty queen and brand ambassador for the Florida Citrus Commission who became a conservative icon and liberal hate figure in the 1970s when she campaigned against homosexuality and gay adoptions.