Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has come under intense criticism after ordering the removal of a rainbow-colored crosswalk in Orlando that served as a memorial to the 49 victims of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub mass shooting. The crosswalk, located near the site of the tragedy, was taken out during the night earlier this week, igniting fury from residents, survivors, and LGBTQ advocates across the country.
DeSantis, who has built his political profile in part on limiting LGBTQ expression in Florida, defended the move in a post on X. Responding to state Senator Carlos Smith, a Democrat who shared a video of the removal, DeSantis wrote, “We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes.”
Smith quickly pushed back, noting that the crosswalk had been approved years earlier. “The rainbow crosswalk was APPROVED by FDOT years ago to honor the 49 + enhance pedestrian safety for those who come to pay their respects,” Smith wrote, posting a photo of DeSantis meeting with survivors. “You looked survivors in the eye + promised they would never be forgotten — then betrayed them for political ambition. They won’t be erased.”
Critics from across the political and activist spectrum also condemned the decision. Matt Rein, creative partnerships director for the Democratic Party, wrote, “It was a memorial for a mass shooting at a gay nightclub, you cretin.”
Peter Schorsch, publisher of Florida Politics, questioned the governor’s reasoning. “Who ‘commandeered’ the road, Governor? The crosswalk was part of the Pulse Memorial installed by @MyFDOT under a Republican governor.”
Brandon Wolf, press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign and a survivor of the Pulse shooting, said the removal amounted to a deliberate insult. “A memorial to my dead brothers isn’t political,” Wolf wrote. “But your cowardly, dead-of-night erasure of it sure is.”
Nate Monroe, executive editor of The Tributary, pointed out the governor’s selective use of memorialization, referencing his decision to sign legislation in 2023 renaming a Central Florida state road “Rush Limbaugh Way.”
The removal of the rainbow crosswalk has become the latest flashpoint in Florida’s cultural and political battles under DeSantis, who has frequently clashed with LGBTQ advocates. For many in Orlando, however, the act has cut far deeper, reopening wounds tied to one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern American history.
The controversy is expected to continue as survivors and supporters of the Pulse memorial call for the crosswalk’s reinstatement and accuse the governor of erasing a vital symbol of remembrance.