Florida city removes LGBTQ+ rainbow intersection, quickly complying with state, federal mandate

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Orders from the administrations of President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis have achieved what vandals have tried and failed: The elimination of a street intersection on Boynton Beach painted with the rainbow colors of the LGBTQ+ progress pride flag.

The rainbow colors were removed Wednesday morning. The intersection, at East Ocean Boulevard and Southeast First Street, close to City Hall, was painted black.

Other cities in South Florida — Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach — and across the nation face the same mandate, but it was not immediately clear whether or how they would comply.

The instructions came via a July 1 social media post, press release and “Dear Governor” letter from Trump Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and a July 2 social media post from Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue, who attached a detailed memorandum from one of his assistant secretaries.

Duffy was direct about his intentions. “Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks. Political banners have no place on public roads. I’m reminding recipients of @USDOT roadway funding that it’s limited to features advancing safety, and nothing else. It’s that simple.”

Perdue wasn’t pride-flag specific, but his message was clear. Writing on social media a day after Duffy, he said that “Florida’s proactive efforts to ensure we keep our transportation facilities free & clear of political ideologies were cemented into law by @GovRonDeSantis … & reemphasized in FDOT’s attached memo. Great to now have our federal partners also aligned behind this same common-sense policy.”

The bottom line: Non-approved markings are out.

A statement from the city of Boynton Beach said it had “removed the inclusionary-painted intersection on the 100 block of East Ocean Avenue to ensure full compliance with state and federal transportation mandates and address safety concerns. The decision follows recent guidance from the U.S. Transportation Secretary and the Florida Department of Transportation.”

The city cited the memorandum from Perdue’s agency that “establishes specific requirements for roadway markings and materials.”

City Manager Daniel Dugger amplified the reasoning in the statement. “While we recognize the symbolic importance of this intersection to our community, we must prioritize public safety and regulatory compliance,” Dugger said. “The city remains committed to finding appropriate ways to honor and celebrate our diverse community and will consider alternative memorial options at a future date.”

Rand Hoch, president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, was present when the Boynton Beach intersection was unveiled during LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June 2021.

Hoch, who suggested West Palm Beach’s pride intersection years ago, has been monitoring the edicts earlier this month from the state and federal governments. He said he was taken aback that Boynton Beach had already acted.

The intentions of other South Florida cities — Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach — with crosswalks or intersections or sections of roads painted to represent the rainbow Progress flag weren’t immediately known.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said his city’s installation is on a side street not used by cars and not at an intersection so he hopes it can survive. Delray Beach Commissioner Rob Long said Wednesday the matter hasn’t yet been considered. A city of West Palm Beach spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Perdue’s memorandum didn’t make the change optional. The penalty for violating the orders: withholding state money from the cities, effectively giving the communities no choice but to comply.

“This is just another example of the president and the governor blackmailing local governments by telling them they’re going to withhold funding … so they can try to publicly erase the LGBTQ+ community,” Hoch said. “This seems to be a priority of these administrations. And for the life of me I cannot understand why. More people nowadays are identifying as LGBTQ+ than ever before. And we are not going to disappear.”

It’s personal for Hoch, a retired judge who has been advocating for LGBTQ+ rights for some 40 years. When the West Palm Beach Art In Public Places Committee, where he was serving as a member, was told in 2018 there were plans to refurbish and paint dozens of city crosswalks, Hoch suggested a rainbow crosswalk in Northwood Village, a part of West Palm Beach that the LGBTQ+ community helped revitalize.

Mayor Dean Trantalis of Fort Lauderdale, his city’s first openly LGBTQ+ mayor, also said moves from the transportation agencies are ideological.

“Regardless of black letter law, I believe this is nothing more than a very petty attempt to try to undermine freedom of expression and to try to circuitously justify some kind of attempt to deny people’s First Amendment rights of expression,” Trantalis said. “If the stripes on sidewalks were red, white and blue I don’t think they would be coming down on anybody even though that in and of itself is a political expression.”

“We have better things to do in this world. We have wars to settle. We have insurance costs to reduce. We have housing crises. We have homelessness. America doesn’t care about the color of its crosswalks,” Trantalis said. “I think it’s time to move past this kind of pettiness.”

The progress pride flag, which is used in Fort Lauderdale and was used in Boynton Beach, is the current symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. Most of it consists of the six rainbow stripes that are a familiar symbol LGBTQ pride. It also includes triangular black and brown stripes to represent people of color and baby blue, pink and white stripes to include colors of a transgender flag.

Duffy is a former member of Congress from Wisconsin who later served as a Fox News contributor and host on the Fox Business Channel. He’s competed and appeared on TV reality shows “The Real World: Boston,” “Road Rules: All Stars” and as a lumberjack on ESPN’s “Great Outdoor Games.”

“Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork. Today I am calling on governors in every state to ensure that roadways, intersections, and crosswalks are kept free of distractions,” Duffy said. “Far too many Americans die each year to traffic fatalities to take our eye off the ball. USDOT stands ready to help communities across the country make their roads safer and easier to navigate.”

The memorandum Perdue attached to his social media post stated that “Non-standard surface markings, signage, and signals that do not directly contribute to traffic safety or control can lead to distractions or misunderstandings, jeopardizing both driver and pedestrian safety.”

Non-compliant markings, the memo said, include “pavement surface art that is associated with social, political or ideological messages or images and does not serve the purpose of traffic control.”

It also said “consistent application of pavement surface markings is critical for the overall effectiveness of automated vehicle operation.”

Trantalis rejected the assertion that rainbows on streets are a safety issue. “It does not distract drivers. It does not distract bicyclists. It does not distract pedestrians. All it seems to do is distract politicians who are trying to inculcate society with their narrow points of view.”

The press office for the state Department of Transportation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The federal agency’s press office responded with a link to its press July 1 press release.

The transportation policies come at a time of a rapidly shifting political environment surrounding the LGBTQ+ community and related issues.

During Trump’s first presidential campaign, he courted LGBTQ+ voters. And in his second presidency, his treasury secretary is the highest-ranking openly LGBTQ+ cabinet member to serve in any president’s administration. But his second administration also has been marked by hostility toward anything touching on diversity, equity and inclusion.

DeSantis, as he prepared for his ultimately unsuccessful candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, turned further to the right and embraced a host of culturally conservative issues, often involving the LGBTQ community.

Under DeSantis, the state enacted the Parental Rights in Education Law, called the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics, which restricts instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in schools. It has imposed age restrictions on audiences for drag shows.

After years of acknowledging the targets of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre — the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities — DeSantis omitted them last month from his official 2025 state description of Pulse Remembrance Day, which marked the ninth anniversary of the massacre that took place on Latin Night at the LGBTQ club in Orlando. The gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53.

And in the transportation arena, the DeSantis administration previously banned light displays on state-managed bridges, except on official government holidays using red, white and blue — a move that effectively blocks rainbow-colored lights during Pride month.

Long, the Delray Beach commissioner, objected to what he said are constant moves by the state to override decisions made by local elected officials.

He said the Delray Beach pride intersection is on a city-owned street. “If we went out to (Interstate) 95 and painted a pride emblem on it they’d have a point. But that’s our jurisdiction. I see that as a home-rule issue. If they’re going to come into our city and tell us what to do with the streets, that’s a problem.”

The rainbow street markings in Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale have been damaged by vandals over the years.

The Delray Beach intersection was damaged last month by a pickup truck driver burning tire marks into the paint, the third time it’s been vandalized since it was unveiled in 2021.

Hoch said vandalism “doesn’t mean we should stop doing this.” He said that it’s costly when people who damage the installations are caught. He said one of the previous Delray Beach vandals had to pay $6,000 to repair the damage.

_____