According to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, the crosswalk was painted over sometime on Wednesday night by the state without the permission of the city government.
A rainbow crosswalk in Orlando, Florida, dedicated as a memorial to the victims of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub mass shooting, was removed overnight, in what the mayor of the city is calling a “cruel political act.”
According to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, the crosswalk was painted over sometime on Wednesday night by the state without the permission of the city government. The crosswalk was part of a memorial meant to honor the 49 people fatally shot by a gunman at the Pulse LGBTQ nightclub in 2016, in what was the largest mass shootings in U.S. history at the time.
Orlando Mayor Dyer criticized the removal of the crosswalk on social media, calling it a “cruel political act.”
“We are devastated to learn that overnight the state painted over the Pulse Memorial crosswalk on Orange Avenue,” he wrote. “This 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.”
The Orlando mayor added that the crosswalk adheres to all safety standards and was actually installed by the state in 2017.
Brandon Wolf, one of the Pulse shooting’s surviving victims, said the removal was a desecration of the deceased victims’ memories.
“In the dark of night, they came to erase our show of solidarity, our declaration that we will never forget,” Wolf wrote on X. “The cowards who feel threatened by our lives should feel lucky they didn’t have to bury the ones they love then watch the state come & desecrate their memory.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, commented on the removal on Thursday in response to a video of Democratic state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith criticizing the removal of the rainbow crosswalk.
“We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes,” DeSantis wrote.
Gov. DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond to The Mirror U.S.’s request for comment on the matter. It’s unclear at this time if DeSantis himself ordered the crosswalk to be painted over.
The removal of the crosswalk follows an order last month from President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy. Duffy sent a letter on July 1 to all 50 states, along with Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, about roadway safety that stressed “consistent” roadway markings that are “free from distractions.”
In a social media post that same day, Duffy shared the letter and a message directly targeting rainbow crosswalks, which are typically intended to symbolize LGBTQ Pride.
“Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks,” he wrote. “Political banners have no place on public roads. I’m reminding recipients of @USDOT roadway funding that it’s limited to features advancing safety, and nothing else. It’s that simple.”
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