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A rainbow crosswalk outside of the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was painted over in the middle of the night on Aug. 21<\/p>\n
Governor Ron DeSantis’ Department of Transportation carried out the covert cover-up thanks to a directive from the Trump administration, reportedly aimed at eliminating road distractions<\/p>\n
However, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called it a ‘cruel political act’<\/p>\n
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A rainbow crosswalk honoring the 49 victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre was removed overnight on Wednesday, following a new directive from President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.
\nThe crosswalk is on Orange Avenue in Orlando, Florida, right next to the abandoned club that still stands as a memorial to the lives lost.
\nIn a statement on X, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called the covert update a \u201ccruel political act.\u201d
\n“We are devastated to learn that overnight the state painted over the Pulse Memorial crosswalk on Orange Avenue,” he said. “This callous action of hastily removing part of a memorial to what was at the time our nation’s largest mass shooting, without any supporting safety data, or discussion is a cruel political act.”<\/p>\n
Governor Ron DeSantis, whose Florida Department of Transportation was responsible for painting over the memorial, defended the action on X, writing, \u201cWe will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes.\u201d
\nThe true directive, however, came from the Trump administration. On July 1, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy sent a letter to the governors of all 50 U.S. States and Puerto Rico, uring them to comply with his \u201cSAFE ROADS Initiative,\u201d aimed at eliminating \u201cdistractions\u201d on non-freeway roads.
\nWhile the letter didn\u2019t explicitly name rainbow crosswalks as a direct target of the initiative, Duffy made it clear when he reposted it on X.
\n\u201cTaxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks,\u201d he wrote. \u201cPolitical banners have no place on public roads. I\u2019m reminding recipients of\u00a0@USDOT roadway funding that it\u2019s limited to features advancing safety, and nothing else. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d
\nHowever, local Democratic politicians say it isn\u2019t about safety.
\n“That’s a totally ridiculous and absurd excuse for what is very clearly an attempt to erase LGBTQ identities and just be anti queer,” state Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith said of the policy.
\nDyer said the Pulse memorial in his city was \u201cinstalled in close coordination with the state and adhere to national safety standards.\u201d
\n\u201cIn fact, the crosswalk that is part of the Pulse Memorial was installed by the state,\u201d he added of the installation, sometimes called “Rainbow Crossing,” that was completed in October 2017.
\n\u201cThis crosswalk not only enhanced safety and visibility for the large number of pedestrians visiting the memorial, it also served as a visual reminder of Orlando’s commitment to honor the 49 lives taken on June 12, 2016,\u201d Dyer continued. \u201cWhile the state works to erase the memory of the victims of the Pulse tragedy by painting over the crosswalk, our community’s commitment to honoring the 49, and completing the memorial, will never waver.”
\nWithin hours, volunteers had taken sidewalk chalk to the new black and white crosswalk, coloring in the spaces until it was a rainbow once again.<\/p>\n
I Survived the Pulse Nightclub Shooting. How I’m Honoring My Late Friend’s Memory 8 Years Later (Exclusive)
\nPulse Nightclub Mass Shooting: Remembering the 49 Victims, 7 Years Later
\nNext year will mark the 10th anniversary of the deadly shooting, which happened in the early morning hours of June 12, 2016.
\nA man armed with two semi-automatic guns walked past a uniformed police officer working as a security guard and into the club, where he fired at random, leaving 49 dead, 58 injured, and many more trapped for hours in the terrifying onslaught.
\nThe Pulse massacre was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history until the 2017 Las Vegas Shooting. It remains the deadliest attack against LGBTQ+ people in U.S. History.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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