The American Secretary of Transport (DOT), Sean Duffy, published a directive last June asking governors to identify road safety problems. The day before, the deputy secretary of the Florida Transport Department (FDOT) had disseminated a similar instruction, specifically targeting the wall paintings carried out on the road. He then gave the cities sixty days to remove all these creations, in order to make the roads “neutral” and exclusively dedicated to traffic. The only authorized markings remain those provided by road signaling.
The municipalities reacted variously. Some, like Boynton Beach or Orlando, have chosen to comply with the directive. Others, like Key West, have expressed their opposition by organizing a “Rainbow Rally” in particular in support of rainbow pedestrian crossings, symbol of the homosexual community. St. Petersburg, for its part, has started discussions with the state in order to obtain derogations for certain facilities. But these communities are under the threat of financial sanctions: the governor conditions the maintenance of subsidies intended for the maintenance of roads to compliance with the directive.
The reasons put forward by the fdot are essentially linked to security. The administration believes that the paintings on the roadway disturb drivers and pedestrians. These arguments were challenged: a study carried out in 2022 by Bloomberg Philanthropies on 17 intersections equipped with frescoes on the ground revealed a 50 % drop in accidents concerning pedestrians and cyclists and an overall decrease of 17 % in the number of accidents. The argument of disturbances for vehicles without driver has also been advanced, but research has shown that these systems are just as disturbed by other urban elements (furniture, signage, etc.).
These justifications were poorly received by associations and several local elected officials. Sam Kaufman, municipal representative, told Washington Post :: “My conviction is that this is politically motivated and not really linked to road safety”. Sean Duffy’s public statements strengthen this interpretation: “Taxpayers expect their dollars to finance safe streets, not rainbow pedestrian crossings” And “Political banners do not have their place on public roads”. According to its opponents, the government would seek to restrict artistic expressions in public space, in particular the rainbow imagery associated with LGBTQ+communities.
Fresco on a sidewalk in Sarasota (Florida) produced as part of the Asphalt Art Festival.
Courtesy Chalk Festival
Since 2008, the “Pride steps” around the world have decorated pedestrian passages in the colors of the rainbow flag. The first in the United States was inaugurated in 2012 in West Hollywood. This practice has since entered the LGBTQ+culture. In Florida, this measure is added to a series of restrictions targeting these communities. Bior Guigni, director of St Pete Pride, told Outsfl that the State “Has spent the last years systematically targeting the symbols of LGBTQ pride – starting with classrooms and government buildings”. The flag created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker is today a recognized world symbol; A copy has been kept since 2015 in the Architecture and Design department of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York.
In Sarasota, the asphalt art festival, which involved more than a hundred artists and writers, must erase nearly 200 frescoes made on sidewalks. Each work illustrated an episode in the history of the city, accompanied by explanatory texts. The pedestrian crossing of Orlando, painted in tribute to the 49 victims of the pulse homophobic attack in 2016, was also erased.
