Updated August 26, 2025 at 1:01 PM EDT
The rainbow crosswalk honoring the victims of a 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Orlando, keeps reappearing, even though the Florida Department of Transportation has painted over it, twice.
On Monday, people were using chalk to return color to the crosswalk. They crouched down and chalked in the black rectangles on West Esther Street at South Orange Avenue, as others stood at a corner and warned them whenever a car approached.
Orlando resident Chris Blem said city police officers standing nearby -- along with a state trooper -- are letting them do it, as long they don't impede traffic.
"Chalk is kind of beautiful," he said, "because it's going to keep washing away, but we're also going to keep coming back. This is not something that's going to stop the community. And if you know our history, you pick the wrong scrappy bunch of people to fight."
READ MORE: Miami Beach commissioner slams state for demanding removal of Ocean Drive 'rainbow' crosswalk
Rusty Best, another Orlando resident, said he'll be coming back to color the crosswalk again. The rainbow colors have a special meaning to him and he knows it is important to people affected by the Pulse tragedy, in which 49 people were killed by a gunman.
"It's really hard to leave this," he said, "when you see the cars driving by and people honking, people stopping by, bringing their families and kids and wanting to color, recolor the crosswalk into the rainbow colors."
The crosswalk rainbow was unofficially repainted on Saturday, but the Florida Department of Transportation quickly covered it up again.
Change in state policy
The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis is going after rainbows -- a symbol of gay pride -- all over the state.
Also, last week it sent a letter to Orlando with a list of 18 other street decorations -- including crosswalks, bike symbols and a paver installation -- that the city must remove by next Thursday.
They includes some of FDOT's improvements for safety
If Orlando doesn't remove them, FDOT District 5 Secretary John Tyler writes, the department could do the work itself and bill the city.
"Please note that the Department will pursue withholding of state funds as permitted by the law," he added, "should City of Orlando reverse course and decide not to comply."
The list includes improvements to South Orange Avenue, part of a $9 million project that came with "decorative sidewalk and crosswalk features in conjunction with the Pulse Memorial," according to an FDOT flyer from last year.
The department's radical change in approach came this summer as it began to exploit a new state law facilitating the removal of nonstandard traffic control devices.
A June 30 memo announced FDOT's intention to crack down on street art that's "associated with social, political or ideological messages."
The next day, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the Trump administration is also going after street art.
"Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork," he said in the announcement. "Today I am calling on governors in every state to ensure that roadways, intersections, and crosswalks are kept free of distractions."
FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue said Tuesday that the crackdown on pavement art is simply implementing the new law and standard.
"So basically," he said at a press conference with Gov. Ron DeSantis, "anything that was previously permitted or installed or awarded, anything you can bring up from the past, essentially is irrelevant now, because we have a new law and we have a new standard, and we're simply implementing that standard.
"And it's across the board. You know, pavement art is not allowed, and we're removing everything that's not compliant with state, federal standards."
DeSantis reiterated that point, adding, "[I]t's just a change in policy, and we don't want to be in a situation where we're playing whack-a-mole. Oh, well, no, that mural is fine, but that's not ... because, you know, then you get into like, oh, there's a content thing and all that. No, we're just not doing it."
'Creative approaches'
Orlando Democratic State Rep. Anna Eskamani was at the Pulse site on Sunday for about six hours, she said. She's advocating for "creative approaches" in response to the removal.
She said people across Orlando have been chalking rainbows on crosswalks, sidewalks and driveways.
"I don't think the people realize how committed people are, not just to the values of our community -- but the commitment to the 49," she said.
Copyright 2025 Central Florida Public Media
