The Florida Department of Transportation has ordered cities across the state to remove their rainbow-painted crosswalks, citing “safety concerns” with no minimal evidence to support the claim. Cities that fail to comply risk losing state and federal funding.
For Rand Hoch, the founder and president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC), the motive is obvious.
“They want to erase our entire community,” Hoch said.
The removal order stems from a Trump-era directive claiming that rainbow crosswalks post a safety hazard because it could distract drivers. Yet local officials in Palm Beach County say the opposite is true.
Hoch, who served on West Palm Beach’s Art in Public Places committee, recalled that city staff presented studies showing that public art, including crosswalk murals, actually slows traffic.
“I raised my hand and I said, ‘I want a rainbow crosswalk,’” Hoch said. “And then I sent a follow-up to the committee the next day and explained the significance of having a rainbow crosswalk.”
The result was Palm Beach County’s first Pride crosswalk, installed in the Northwood Village neighborhood in West Palm Beach. That single act sparked a ripple effect: Delray Beach and Boynton Beach soon followed with elaborate LGBTQ street murals of their own.
“It sort of became a race between Boynton Beach and Delray Beach, who’s going to be the first one,” Hoch said. “Both of them did incredibly beautiful street murals.”
Boynton Beach has already painted over its mural. West Palm Beach, however, may have found a creative workaround: the city plans to relocate its tribute to Serenity Park, just two blocks north of the original crosswalks.
“They are converting this to a memorial to our community,” Hoch said.
Delray Beach is expected to follow in removing their mural. City staff did not respond to a request for comment.
“It is a shame that the federal government and the state government will basically blackmail states, counties, municipalities with the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars just to try to erase the LGBTQ+ community,” Hoch said. “We are not going anywhere. We are not going back in the closet. We’re not going to cower. We are going to be as out and as vibrant as we’ve always been, if not more.”
