Left-wing activists have expressed their outrage at what they say is an act of erasure against the queer community by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on political murals.
Abbott had given cities 30 days to remove political murals from public spaces, and the Texas Department of Transportation reiterated the order to the city of Austin.
‘An absolute breach on freedom of speech and a breach on our queer history.’
The city agreed to remove the Pride rainbow crosswalk on Fourth Street as well as a Black Lives Matter mural on Eleventh Street. They were at risk of losing state and federal funding if they didn’t comply with the order.
But local activists are incensed.
“It feels like a slap in the face to the community,” Austin Pride president Micah Andress said to KTBC-TV. “I don’t understand why this is political. It’s a rainbow crosswalk. It’s certainly not a safety hazard.”
Andress wants the city to resist the order and keep the crosswalk.
“If we’re as progressive as we say we are, and we have all the protections that the city says we do, we should be protecting this,” Andress said. “We shouldn’t be erasing it. We’re not going anywhere. We’ve always been here. We’ll always be here.”
“It is an absolute breach on freedom of speech and a breach on our queer history,” said Veronica Jones, a resident of Austin.
“It’s just important for every community, no matter what you believe, to have a space where you can be your authentic self and be celebrated,” said Chris Collier, another resident. “I would hate to see this block become any less colorful.”
Others are upset at the removal of the Black Lives Matter street mural.
“Just because they want to erase something from the street, it doesn’t erase the sentiment, it doesn’t erase the message,” said Austin Justice Coalition founder Chas Moore. “The message remains the same, that Black lives matter, Black artists matter.”
A similar order in Florida garnered the same responses from drag queens in Miami Beach.
“Our pride is getting erased just like that,” said a drag queen named CC Glitzer. “It’s very painful.”
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