Fort Lauderdale has called an emergency meeting after being ordered by the state to remove a rainbow-colored pride display from a side street near the beach.
The state order, which comes with a Sept. 4 deadline, prompted Mayor Dean Trantalis to set the meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the city’s official response and give residents in one of the state’s most LGBTQ-friendly towns a chance to speak.
“There seems to be an irrational vengeance on the part of the state to erase images that reflect the LGBTQ community,” Trantalis said Monday. “They will attempt different approaches. Right now their approach is to invoke an obscure statute regarding traffic enforcement. But this isn’t really a pedestrian issue. This is a culture war. Let’s call it what it is.”
In a matter of days, state officials have already twice painted over a rainbow-colored crosswalk in Orlando honoring the victims of the Pulse nightclub, where a mass shooting left 49 dead and 53 wounded in 2016.
In response, vandals in Fort Lauderdale painted rainbow crosswalks outside two of Florida Department of Transportation offices in Broward County, according to a report from WSVN-Ch. 7. One crosswalk had this message: “Pulse — you will not erase us.” Another had the word “Pulse” with a heart next to it.
Officials with the Florida Department of Transportation could not be reached for comment Monday.
Gov. Ron DeSantis defended the statewide order last week, posting a message on X saying, “We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes.”
In Fort Lauderdale, the rainbow crosswalk targeted by the state is on Sebastian Street near the unofficial LGBTQ section of Fort Lauderdale beach.
The state on Thursday ordered the city to remove three other painted street designs that have nothing to do with the LGBTQ community. Those are located at Breakers Avenue and Riomar Street; Breakers Avenue and Terramar Street; and East Las Olas Boulevard and Almond Avenue.
If the designs are not gone by Sept. 4, they will be removed by the state and all costs associated with the removal will be billed to Fort Lauderdale, the letter warned. Should Fort Lauderdale not comply, the Department of Transportation will seek to withhold state funds, the letter said.
“Things are getting darker every day in the Sunshine State,” said Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district is home to all four locations now in the state’s crosshairs.
Glassman added: “This is a very sad period in our history. It’s like we all jumped in a time machine and went back 50 years. The state coming after these issues is making everyone shake their heads. It’s sad. It’s troubling.”
Glassman said he plans to ask the city attorney how Fort Lauderdale might fare if the commission chooses to battle the state order in court.
“Because if you just roll over now, it’s never going to end,” Glassman said. “Next it’s going to be: Take down that public art in your park. It’s cruel. And I don’t see the state becoming less cruel as time goes on.”
Some cities, including Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach, have quickly complied with the state order. Others have been defiant or slow to respond. Among them: Delray Beach, Key West, Miami Beach and Orlando.
It’s too soon to say whether Fort Lauderdale will fight the order.
But even if the imagery is removed from the street, it won’t be erased from sight altogether, Trantalis said.
“It doesn’t mean the rainbow imagery will go away,” he said. “We’ll just find another place to put it. It’s irrational cultural combat that’s steering this. And we’re not looking to fight. We’re not looking to engage the state in a fight over culture wars. No one wins.”
In the meantime, LGBTQ activists and their allies planned to take to the streets from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale and beyond to protest. One protest was planned Monday afternoon on Sebastian Street in Fort Lauderdale, while another was planned in nearby Wilton Manors.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan
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