As supporters worked to restore the rainbow-colored crossing, a Florida Department of Transportation team painted the Pulse crosswalk back to black and white for the second time early on Sunday. Police are currently keeping an eye on the location.
The crosswalk on Esther Street at South Orange Avenue was repainted by the DOT after it was sprayed with colored paint on Saturday, according to Spectrum News 13, the Orlando Sentinel’s news partner. Rain swept away the rainbow hues that fans had previously drawn with chalk.
On Sunday, a group of Orlando Police Department and Florida Highway Patrol officers watched the dozen individuals using chalk on the rainbow crosswalk. It was an intimidation strategy, according to advocates.
After state transportation officials abruptly dismantled the rainbow crosswalk in the middle of the night, hundreds of people gathered last week to repaint it in chalk. Following the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, which claimed 49 lives, the crossing was one of the most important locations for the LGBTQ community in the state. The Florida Department of Transportation claimed that the state’s restriction on rainbow lights on bridges earlier this year and the acerbic remarks made by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Governor Ron DeSantis over political rainbow crosswalks were only procedural.
Around 9 a.m. on Sunday, protesters started coloring the crossing and covering the sidewalk with pictures and words like “FHP go away,” but the raindrops washed away the chalk. Three OPD cars and perhaps four FHP trooper vehicles were parked at the Dunkin Donuts near to the crosswalk by Sunday afternoon. The group was warned by the OPD not to obstruct traffic or face arrest. While FHP and OPD cars drove in and out keeping watch, the gang persisted in using chalk on the crosswalk in spite of the danger.
State Representative Anna Eskamani, who was at the crosswalk in support, called it “silly.” The amount of effort and money the state spends on a crosswalk when there are so many more useful applications, like patching potholes.
Eskamani claimed the state was politicizing it and that she wasn’t frightened. individuals on vacation from other states have swung over to provide a hand, and she has gotten hundreds of cartons of chalk in the mail from individuals all over the world, she added.
Eskamani remarked, “You’re stirring up trouble over a sidewalk.” Before you made it a deal, nobody gave a damn.
Robby Dodd, 34, took this personally. During the 2016 Pulse shooting, Dodd lost a lot of friends. He brought a $25 package of 160 rainbow-colored chalk from Amazon to the location on Sunday at around nine in the morning. The presence of FHP and OPD is absurd, he remarked.
“It feels strange because they could be doing something else besides watching us color,” Dodd remarked. We all know that it’s chalk and will eventually wash away, but in the meantime, state troopers and the OPD are being paid for by taxpayers.
Dodd promised to return time and time again to repaint the crossing in honor of his pals.
This served as a sort of second home for us. Dodd stated that aside from political motives, there was no justification for removing the crossing because it was an element of the memorial.
There are other targets in the state besides Orlando. Near what is commonly referred to as the unofficial LGBTQ+ part of Fort Lauderdale beach, the state ordered Fort Lauderdale to remove a portion of a street near the beach that was painted in the colors of the LGBTQ+ Progress Pride flag on Friday.
According to Eskamani, the community will fight back, and she hopes that local companies and officials will join them.
Eskamani stated, “I want to see our local governments fight back.” There are, in my opinion, many chances to contest some of these state-issued actions in court.
