Rio Hondo held two screenings of the new documentary “Letter to Anita” by director Andrea Meyerson on Nov. 5 with a reception and Question & Answer discussion in between showings at the Wray Theater.

The documentary is narrated both on and off screen by Meredith Baxter, arguably best known for her spot on the 1980s television show “Family Ties”.

The incorporation of Baxter narrating both Dr. Ronni Sanlo’s life as well as the letter she wrote to Anita Bryant in 2009, forgiving her for how the famed star hurt her family, was said by Meyerson to be “a triangle of mothers.”

The film mostly follows the career of Sanlo from her first questioning her sexuality, moving to her marriage and the birth of her children, and then the “new life” that she takes on once finally coming out to the public.

Within the film, additional individuals are interviewed and are asked for their opinions on the political climate towards the LGBT community, both in the past and currently.

Among those interviewed were Erik Sauls, Sanlo’s openly gay son, and Robert Green, Bryant’s openly gay son who has a child with a lesbian couple.

In 2009 after a very successful career in activism and higher education administration, Sanlo wrote a letter to Anita Bryant. In the letter she tells her life story and how Bryant influenced her family from an early stage. The letter expresses all the hardships that Sanlo felt as well as delving into some history on gay rights in the country.

The story of Sanlo in 1978 Florida inspired Meyerson to create the film after reading Sanlo’s actual letter Bryant, the famous media personality at the time who headed an anti-gay campaign entitled “Save our Children” in Florida in 1977.

After working on the film for over two years, Meyerson was ready to finalize the documentary. The film was completely paid for through crowdfunding and the idea was to “keep it simple.”

The main take-away from the literal letter to Bryant is Sanlo’s appreciation and forgiveness of Bryant. She realizes that Bryant was only doing what she thought was best in 1977 and is still a “good” person despite this.

Sanlo, however voiced her gratitude in the letter. Her reasoning was that had Bryant never led that infamous campaign, Sanlo would never have taken the path she has and would not have helped countless young people become comfortable with their sexuality, or move for progressive mentalities with all her positive advocacy work.

In a Q&A session that succeeded the first screening of the documentary, audiences were offered snacks and refreshments to enjoy and were given the opportunity to talk with both Sanlo and Meyerson.

Sanlo and Meyerson were also asked about their feelings on the recent legalization of gay marriage at the federal level.

Sanlo’s story was paralleled to modern-day issues such as the fact that Houston, Texas just recently passed legislation similar to that of 1977 Dade County, Florida limiting civil rights of many minorities.

While they both stated their appreciation at the government offering the choice for gay couples to marry, both women equally expressed concern that the Supreme Court decision is not the final nail in the coffin in regards to civil rights especially for the LGBT community.

Meyerson said that she learned much more about Sanlo while researching for the documentary. They have known each other for a long period of time but Meyerson’s passion for filmmaking and the desire to bring the story to new audiences helped flesh out the idea for the movie.

When asked how she felt about being the subject of such an emotional documentary and having her life story broadcast, Sanlo stated that she “is only the catalyst for seeing the history of LGBT rights.”

That LGBT history, said to have been unknown by many, is exactly why the director and writer of the film stated it needed to be documented. In this instance, part of the history was shown through Sanlo’s personal tragedy.

Sanlo came out as lesbian in 1978 and as a result lost custody of her two children due to the harsh political climate in Florida at the time.

Rio Hondo student Sean Burton said, “I thought it was really interesting and it was really changing about how Miami passed [laws restricting rights of gays].” Burton is no stranger to documentaries and says he heard about the screening through emails sent out by the school.

After the second screening of “Letter to Anita”, the audience in attendance was offered an impromptu and a more personal Q&A with both Meyerson and Sanlo. Both stated that they have a mostly positive outlook on the future of LGBT rights citing how much has and can change in a relatively short amount of time.