Gianna Hayes
News Editor
On July 1, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called on state governors to remove ‘distractions’ from sidewalks and crosswalks on non-freeway arterial roads. “Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,” Duffy said. In Florida, that meant the removal of a crosswalk commemorating a mass shooting.
In 2016, 49 people were killed and 53 injured in a mass-shooting at the Pulse nightclub, a gay nightclub. Rainbow-colored crosswalks were installed in 2017 to honor the victims. On Aug. 21, the crosswalks were painted over in the middle of the night by the State of Florida. That followed a June memo from the Florida Department of Transportation to remove “social, political or ideological messages or images” from streets and sidewalks. At least four protestors have now been arrested for coloring the crosswalk outside of the Pulse Nightclub in rainbow chalk. Law enforcement cited the state’s criminal mischief statute, which concerns the damage or defacement of public or private property.
First, let me state the obvious — this is fascism at work. Not to mention that this act of painting over the rainbow crosswalk in the middle of the night is extremely cowardly. While it makes sense that roadwork would take place at night to minimize obstruction to traffic, it was also a decidedly strategic move to minimize the erasure at work. If a change happens overnight, when most of the community is asleep, it might be less questioned. It removes the accountability of people who are actively marginalizing the queer community. If we don’t know who’s marginalizing us, we don’t know where to start.
Thankfully, the communities affected by this particular flavor of Floridian fascism are not letting this go. They are getting arrested, but are getting released (because the law enforcement does not have a leg to stand on — water soluble sidewalk chalk is simply not defacing or damaging the crosswalks). Besides this, the reasoning behind the Duffy order is flawed — why are pedestrian and vehicle accidents so common? It’s not the distractions on the road, it’s the building of taller and heavier cars, the implementation of screens on dashboards of cars and people’s ever-growing reliance on smartphones for constant stimulation. But I digress, that could be a completely different viewpoint.
Ohio and Florida are unfortunately not that different. Just this past Monday, I heard young men in a truck shouting slurs at students on Beall Ave. Ohio has been called a swing state, but this so-called “purple” state has voted red in the last three presidential elections, and I’m not looking forward to the 2026 Ohio gubernatorial election.
Right now, it is frightening to be queer, BIPOC or a part of any other marginalized community. But Republicans and other far-right groups are also scared of us — scared of us being seen, being visible, of diversity. So keep chalking up sidewalks, keep wearing your rainbows and being visibly queer. Wear rainbows even if you’re just an ally. Keep practicing solidarity with marginalized groups, go out of your way to build community. Challenge the status quo. Go read up on feminist literature. Like, actually read (bell hooks is easier to read than you think, I promise). Then go further than reading — talk about what you read, build coalitions and foster a diverse, welcoming network of people against fascism and the current Trump administration. We cannot and will not be suppressed. Fascism is not invincible.
