Florida cities race to save rainbow crosswalks as the state’s deadlines for removal loom

FT LAUDERDALE Fla AP An exigency city meeting is set for Wednesday evening in the south Florida city of Fort Lauderdale as a battle to save so-called rainbow crosswalks from being sandblasted or painted over enters the th hour with removal deadlines looming Communities across Florida are being ordered to remove them by early next month by the state which is threatening to withhold millions of dollars in state funding if the cities don t comply Countless of the brightly colored street crossings are meant to celebrate gay rights and LGBTQ pride while others are tributes to Black people and police A bicyclist passes over a rainbow crosswalk on Duval Street in Key West Fla Tuesday Aug Rob O Neal The Key West Citizen via AP Miami Beach has been given a Sept deadline to remove its rainbow crosswalk on Ocean Drive a deadline similar to those given to communities across Florida They can t strip away our pride and they can t strip away our values of inclusivity Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez notified The Associated Press in an interview this week Fernandez plans to raise the possibility of an appeal at a Sept city meeting one day before the state s deadline He sees the crosswalk as a symbol of safety for not only the LGBTQ district but other residents as well When the gay public is safe the broader population is safe as well he announced This combination of photos shows a rainbow crosswalk that was removed overnight Thursday Aug outside of the Pulse nightclub where people were gunned down in June in Orlando Fla The lefthand image shows the crosswalk in Ryan Gillespie Orlando Sentinel via AP Among the first crossings to be removed was a rainbow-colored bridging marking the massacre outside the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando where people were gunned down It was painted over in the middle of the night by work crews angering public members Removal of the Pulse bridging put the dispute in a spotlight It happened several weeks after a July directive from U S Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy who gave U S governors days to identify what he called safety improvements Roads are for safety not political messages or artwork Duffy has reported Duffy has made every state receiving federal dollars responsible for identifying hazards on their roads the Federal Highway Administration revealed in a report to The Associated Press So far Florida Gov Ron DeSantis has been the first U S governor to aggressively carry out the federal guidance We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes DeSantis reported just now on X Related Articles Massachusetts mom hopes National Guard DC deployment will lead to justice Howie Carr Please come to Boston Mr President In current times in History August Hurricane Irene makes landfall Editorial Liberal snubbing of Melania Trump cover a development of Vanity Un-fair Cracker Barrel relents says its old logo will return A comment from the Florida Department of Transportation commented the agency has a duty to ensure the safety and consistency of residents roadways and transportation systems That means ensuring our roadways are not utilized for social political or ideological interests it reported Efforts to remove the artwork are clearly an anti-LGBTQ push on behalf of both the federal regime and the copycat version from the state cabinet noted Rand Hoch founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council They re basically blackmailing municipalities counties and states by saying if you don t do this we re going to withhold funding Hoch declared It s absolutely ridiculous Despite the directive from the U S transportation secretary there s no indication of any widespread actions to remove rainbow crossings outside of Florida The Sunshine State is often the vanguard nationwide in fights over what various call the beliefs wars of politics Those include battles over the removal of library books deemed inappropriate by DeSantis and other Republicans In Key West state transportation agents declared that if pavement markings in its historic downtown are not removed by Sept the Florida Department of Transportation will remove them by any appropriate method necessary without further notice In a letter to Key West s city manager federal agents also threatened the immediate withholding of state funds if it finds additional violations