Florida’s government erased a rainbow crosswalk memorializing the victims of the Pulse shooting last week. And despite community members rallying to bring it back, government officials continue to crack down.
The rainbow crosswalk in Orlando, which was designed to honour the 49 victims of the 2016 mass shooting, was painted over by the state government in the middle of the night. The memorial was installed in 2017 after getting approval from the Florida Department of Transportation—the same agency that just painted over it.
The change follows an order from the Trump administration to erase any “distracting” road art. Back in July, U.S. Transportation secretary Sean Duffy sent letters to all 50 states asking for the removal of any road markings unrelated to pedestrian or driver safety—and took aim at rainbow-painted crosswalks specifically.
Community members came to the crosswalk to bring the rainbow back with chalk after it was removed, but officials ended up painting over it again. And now local law enforcement is monitoring the area to directly stop folks from colouring the crosswalk.
We look into how, even in the face of potential police intimidation, people are still choosing to honour the lives lost at Pulse how they can—even when their government refuses to.
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