Florida’s Censored Pride Crosswalks Are Already Showing Through

Florida’s Pride crosswalks, painted in memory of the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, have largely been repainted black and white in accordance with the right-wing culture war against any and all aspects of queer life. Local residents who have tried to color the lines back in with chalk have been arrested, and continued attempts to reinstate the memorials have led to 24-hour police presence at some street corners. Now, after all that effort to hide the crosswalks, there’s a new issue for the culture war: The cheap black paint on the crosswalks is wearing thin. 

Megan Sladek, mayor of Oviedo, Florida, posted a photo earlier this week of one of her city’s painted-over crosswalks. It sounds like she’s not a fan of the monochrome repaint, because she was enthralled by the black paint wearing off and revealing bright colors underneath. She even said, in her post, that she hoped the more contentious crosswalks in Orlando would meet a similar fate. 

What’s particularly interesting about the Oviedo crosswalk is just how the black paint has worn off. It’s not from foot traffic, but it’s been scraped off in two straight lines — lines that appear to show tire tread lines, and that continue off of the crosswalk onto the unpainted asphalt ahead. This black paint was worn off by a car, though it’s unclear whether it was done through acceleration or deceleration. Were it a burnout, one would expect to see some rubber deposits by the bottom of the frame that don’t appear present; if it were braking, it would have to be a car without ABS. 

It’s not clear if a single driver intentionally used their car’s wheels to remove the black paint, or if its removal was simply a result of someone using the low-traction nature of crosswalk paint to kick off a burnout, but either way the result is clear: The layer of paint meant to hide queer life away is paper-thin and easy to remove. No esteemed journalist would ever directly advocate for such removal, of course, but it stands as a nice metaphor. Pick away at anywhere that the right has tried to paint things as black and white, and you’ll find a vibrant history beneath just the thinnest of papering over.