The LGBTQ community is reeling after an art deco Pride crosswalk was uprooted by order of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from the streets of Miami Beach.
A number of drag queens assembled to watch work crews dismantle the rainbow crosswalk on Sunday morning and told WPLG-TV they were shocked and heartbroken.
‘I think the street art got out of hand. I think it’s much better that we use crosswalks and streets for their intended purpose.’
“Our pride is getting erased just like that,” said CC Glitzer, a drag queen. “It’s very painful.”
“This represents blood, sweat, and tears. It tears my heart to see it go,” said TP Lourdes, another drag queen. “They might take this away, but they didn’t take the love and memories we’ve built here.”
The WPLG report said the crosswalk was destroyed by the Florida Department of Transportation without any notice from the state, despite DeSantis ordering the removal of street art in August.
“Why waste taxpayer dollars to remove something safe, beautiful, iconic, and embraced by everyone?” Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez said.
Additionally, an Associated Press report indicated that the city lost an appeal against the state order just a few days before the crosswalk was dismantled.
Fernandez said the bricks from the crosswalk were collected to be repurposed.
“This represented decades of people who endured housing discrimination, expulsion from the military,” Fernandez said, “workplace discrimination, the stigma of HIV and AIDS, the fight for marriage equality, all the hard-won battles that took the LGBTQ community from being marginalized to now being a visible, celebrated part of the community.”
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DeSantis threatened to suspend state transportation funding from those communities that refused his order on street art.
“I think the street art got out of hand. I think it’s much better that we use crosswalks and streets for their intended purpose,” DeSantis previously said.
The AP noted that other street art had been dismantled under the order, including a “Back the Blue” mural outside of the Tampa police headquarters.
City officials cut the ribbon on the crosswalk in Nov. 2018.
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