SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Officials in Orlando are outraged that the state Transportation Department painted over a rainbow crosswalk outside the former Pulse Nightclub. The street art was a memorial to the 49 people killed in the mass shootings at the LBGTQ+ (ph) club in 2016. As Joe Byrnes with Central Florida Public Media reports, locals protested the surprise erasure this week.
JOE BYRNES, BYLINE: About 200 people showed up to protest the day after the removal of the colorful crosswalk.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORNS HONKING)
BYRNES: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Who screams?
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: I scream.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Who screams?
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: I scream.
BYRNES: 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.
ALEXIS BISHOP: It's upsetting more than anything. We all sit here - we're stunned, because why? Why cover it?
BYRNES: Republican Governor Ron DeSantis wrote on X we will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes. Empowered by a new state law, the Florida DOT directed cities to remove street art that's, quote, "associated with social, political or ideological messages." Some cities, like West Palm Beach, have removed their rainbow crosswalks on their own. Others, like Key West, are pushing back. Orlando officials weren't given that chance. During the protest, fragments of real rainbows were visible. For Senator Smith, it was a sign.
SMITH: We looked up into the sky...
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah. Yeah.
SMITH: ...And there was not one, but there were two double rainbows...
SMITH: ...Which is a reminder that the universe is with us.
BYRNES: Minutes later, the downpour came and erased the rainbow crossing once again.
For NPR News, I'm Joe Byrnes in Orlando, Florida. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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