by Joe Siegel

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has done it again. He has ordered rainbow crosswalks across the state to be painted over, resulting in outrage from the LGBTQ community.

DeSantis’ “self-declared war on rainbow crosswalks reached its latest stop in the Florida Keys … when the Florida Department of Transportation painted over gay mecca Key West’s Pride display in the dead of night,” according to LGBTQ Nation on September 9. “The erasure of the tiny crosswalk, measuring just six feet deep at the intersection of Duval and Petronia streets, gave the lie to DeSantis’ claim that such street art is a traffic hazard in search of fatalities. Bikers and pedestrians at the narrow intersection regularly move faster than motorized traffic in the slow-paced resort’s gayborhood.”

In July, DeSantis signed a law effectively banning all pavement art and murals like rainbow crosswalks, regardless of their political message, in collusion with the U.S. Transportation Secretary and former “Road Rules” contestant Sean Duffy, who directed all state governors to keep intersections and crosswalks “free from distractions.”

In a subsequent social media post, Duffy said, “Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks.” Duffy also referred to nonexistent data implying the crosswalks cause traffic fatalities, a ruse deployed to serve the Trump administration’s erasure of LGBTQ identity. DeSantis has promoted this untrue implication.

LGBTQ Nation reported: “Protests have erupted in several cities subject to the rainbow crosswalk ban, with activists and allies replacing the street art soon after its erasure. DeSantis deployed the Florida Highway Patrol to monitor the intersection in front of the Pulse Nightclub Memorial in Orlando after protesters chalked and then painted a new rainbow crosswalk for a third time.”

On August 25, Orlando-based Watermark Out News reported on the removal of the rainbow crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub, the sight of a mass shooting which left 49 people dead in 2016. “Early Aug. 21, the rainbow crosswalk near Pulse was removed. Its removal followed a memo released by the Florida Department of Transportation regarding inconsistent ‘pavement surface markings.’ In response, owner of Se7en Bites Trina Gregory will open 49 of her private parking spots to local artists who will transform them into vibrant works of art. The event, Parking Spaces for Pride, will feature live art installations, live entertainment and local food trucks and vendors.”

“Art has always been a form of resistance and healing,” Gregory said in the press release, quoted in Watermark Out News. “If our state leaders want to erase symbols of pride and acceptance, then we’ll create even more of them. This isn’t just about paint — it’s about community, visibility and love.”

Wilton Manors-based OutSFL also reported on the rainbow crosswalks in an August 26 story: “Under the cover of night, the state painted over the rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub — the site of the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community in U.S. history — sparking outrage in Orlando and beyond. That late-night erasure wasn’t an isolated act. Across Florida, cities are receiving orders to scrub away rainbow crosswalks — including Delray Beach, where officials are preparing to fight back.”

“We’re not surprised that the state decided to double down on its threats to the city of Delray Beach,” said Rand Hoch, president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, told OutSFL. “It just seems to be a pattern from the DeSantis administration to continue its efforts to erase anything positive that has to do with the LGBTQ+ community here in Florida.”

OutSFL ran a column by longtime activist Wayne Besen on August 28, titled “Fascism is Here. The LGBTQ Movement Must Pivot.”

“The Trump administration is rapidly consolidating power and exercising it to roll back LGBTQ rights at a rapid pace,” Besen wrote. “It is working hand-in-glove with its Project 2025 allies and its lackeys at the state level. Project 2025, of course, is the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s nefarious plot to disfigure American democracy and reshape it in their theocratic image.

“Our aggressive foes are mostly authoritarian religious extremists who want us expunged from the public square and unceremoniously forced back into the closet. The LGBTQ movement must immediately wake up from its long slumber to pivot forcefully and unapologetically into a weapon of outright defiance. In the spirit of Stonewall, we must rise to counter the mounting threat, or we will suffer enormous setbacks and face a bleak future.”

IN THE NEWS
Volume 27
Issue 8