Bob Kunst

Bob Kunst is an American gay rights activist and perennial candidate.[1]

Kunst in 1986

Early life

Kunst was born in 1941 in Miami Beach, Florida.

He worked in marketing for the Miami Toros professional soccer team in the 1970s.[2]

Gay rights activism

He supported the 1976 Miami-Dade County Ordinance for Gay Rights[3] and was later involved in activism for people with AIDS.[4]

Kunst opposed Save Our Children, a Dade County, Florida voter-approved county initiative supported by singer Anita Bryant and her then-husband Bob Green. The initiative repealed the previous anti-discrimination ordinance Kunst had supported.[5] He helped organize the subsequent pressure campaign on citrus industry corporate sponsors of Bryant.[6] The law was eventually repealed by the state Supreme Court of Florida in 2010.[7]

In 1991, after allegations of financial mismanagement were published in the Miami Herald, Kunst was fired as the executive director of Cure AIDS Now.[8]

Democratic politics

As a Democratic Party politician, Kunst unsuccessfully campaigned in the Democratic primary against Bob Graham in the 1986 United States Senate elections in Florida. Kunst also ran unsuccessfully in the 2010 United States House of Representatives Election, this time as an unaffiliated independent, against incumbent Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, in Florida.[1] Kunst volunteered for the Hillary Rodham Clinton 2008 U.S. presidential campaign in Florida.[9]

Other activism

Kunst was president (1991-2001) of Shalom International, a Jewish group combating global Neo-Nazism and Neo-fascism movements. And he was a co-founder of the Oral Majority in 1982, the liberal and secular counter-protest group of the Religious Right organizations Moral Majority and later the Christian Coalition.[10]

In 2018, Kunst protested outside the courthouse where Noor Salman, Omar Mateen's widow, was being tried for complicity in her husband's Pulse nightclub massacre with a sign reading "'Fry her till she has no 'Pulse'". Noor Salman was found not guilty during a trial that also exposed the fact that she was abused by her husband.[11]

Support of Trump

Kunst supported Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[12] He protested the March 2023 indictment of Donald Trump.[13]

References
  1. Man, Anthony (September 22, 2010). "Perennial candidate Bob Kunst running again, this time challenging Wasserman Schultz". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  2. Fejes, Fred (2008). Gay Rights and Moral Panic. doi:10.1057/9780230614680. ISBN 978-0-230-10826-4.
  3. Bob Kunst. "Orange Crush: Bob Kunst and the Real Story of Anita Bryant, Save Our Children and the Miami Gay Rights Ordinance of 1976". Lgbt-today.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-02. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  4. John McAleenan (1987-01-04). "Rebel With (another) New Cause First, He Played Tit For Tat With Anita Bryant. Then He Took On Bob Graham. Now, He's Taken Up The Banner Against Aids. Meet Bob Kunst, Gay Activist, Perpetual Motion Machine From Miami Beach, And A Man Who Knows It's A Jungle Out There - And Is Only Too Ready To Fight". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  5. Niedwiecki, Anthony (2013). "Save Our Children: Overcoming the Narrative that Gays and Lesbians are Harmful to Children". Publications. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2302716. S2CID 44645454.
  6. "Bryant's crusade two decades ago was watershed for gay rights". AP News. 26 January 1997. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  7. Sentinel, Victor Manuel Ramos, Orlando. "Florida won't challenge end to gay adoption ban". OrlandoSentinel.com. Retrieved 2019-05-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Labbee, William (February 12, 1992). "Q & A With Bob Kunst". Miami New Times. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  9. "Bob Kunst Pictures Democratic Presidential Candidates Meet For First Debate". Zimbio.com. 2007-04-26. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  10. "A Florida homosexual who fought singer Anita Bryant over..." UPI. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  11. Melissa Jeltsen (5 April 2018). "Everyone Got the Pulse Massacre Story Completely Wrong". huffingtonpost.ca. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  12. Swanson, Jess (November 2, 2016). "At Clinton's Sistrunk Rally, Former Gay Activist Bob Kunst Assails "Vagina Voters"". Miami New Times. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  13. Pefley, Albert (5 April 2023). "While Trump maintains loyal supporters during indictment, others await his downfall". KATV. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
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