Florida transportation officials painted over the rainbow crosswalk that served as a memorial to the 49 people killed in the 2016 Pulse nightclub mass shooting. Approximately 200 people protested the removal the following day, raising signs, waving pride flags, and using chalk to recolor the crosswalk and write messages. Demonstrators and survivors described the action as hurtful and insulting to families. Democratic state Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith vowed a new, larger mural and declared that the community will not be erased. Governor Ron DeSantis wrote that state roads cannot be commandeered for political purposes.
Protesters raised signs and waved large pride flags as drivers on South Orange Avenue honk their horns. People used chalk to recolor the crosswalk in rainbow hues and scribbled messages. (SOUNDBITE OF HORN HONKING) BYRNES: Crouching on the pavement, 29-year-old Alexis Bishop (ph) wrote in pink chalk, queer joy, rest, love, resistance. Bishop says painting over a memorial to the Pulse victims was hurtful.
At the demonstration, Democratic state Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith called it a hostile act and a, quote, "insult to the families and survivors of the Pulse tragedy." CARLOS GUILLERMO SMITH: Somewhere nearby, sometime very soon, there will be a mural painted. It will be bigger. (CHEERING) SMITH: It will be more queer. (CHEERING) SMITH: And it will be more colorful than they ever imagined because we will not be erased.
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