Key West, Florida, was always known for its colorful and recognizable rainbow crosswalks, which stood for inclusion of all people throughout the area. This nod to the LGBTQ+ community was always a welcome sight. However, as all things go, the state government had a problem with it. The Florida Department of Transportation decided they were going to remove the rainbow pavement markings. In true Key West nature, the citizens decided to fight back.
TikToker Key West Shawn (@keywestshawn) frequently posts videos about living life in Key West. Recently, he visited the area where the rainbow crosswalks were covered by FDOT workers. A woman off-screen asks him, “What happened to the rainbow crosswalks?” He stated that the State of Florida said they couldn’t have the crosswalks anymore. So, one night they decided to come out and paint over them when everybody was sleeping.
Shawn goes on to say that the City of Key West took matters into their own hands. They weren’t pleased when the crosswalks disappeared. He goes on to say, “They built these cool new bike racks over here” and points to an area close to the covered crosswalk. You can see the bike rack posts are each a different color, each one a color of a rainbow. As Shawn says in the caption to his video, “Now, we’ve got rainbow bike racks bringing the color and pride back to the streets.”
One commenter pointed out, “People are hungry and struggling to keep a roof over their head, but obviously the priority is to pay to paint over sidewalks that hurt people’s feelings.” Another person said, “Florida is running off all kinds of people. I love Key West but Florida is not safe. It’s not safe if you’re a person of color and it’s not safe if you’re LGBTQ and it’s not safe if you’re immunocompromised. It’s not f*****g safe.”
When another commenter pointed out that they know a lot of gay people who feel safe in Florida, they got pushback from another commenter. They said, “One of many is not hundreds. I know about Miami and the surrounding area and that people have built lives and communities there. Doesn’t change the fact that the state is run by Trump fascists voted in by the residents of the state. Tourism is down. Public sentiment has declined. I wouldn’t go there if I didn’t have to out of principle.” The problem is, Florida can’t just let people have things. Taking a rainbow crosswalk away is more than just taking the personality of the area away. It’s an attack on the LGBTQ+ community because they don’t want people to exist. And it needs to stop.
