Gov. DeSantis calls crosswalk outside a mass shooting memorial ‘political’

A day after the state quietly removed a rainbow crosswalk outside of the site of a gay nightclub mass shooting that killed 49 people, Gov. Ron DeSantis took to his X account to call the strip of road “political.”

“We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes,” DeSantis wrote.

DeSantis’ comment comes in response to a video taken by Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith (and shared by news account Florida’s Voice), in which he films himself speaking about the middle-of-the-night removal of the rainbow crosswalk. The few feet of road is located outside the Pulse nightclub mass shooting site, which has for nearly a decade stood as what little the city has to show for a memorial.

The post was shared Thursday afternoon, hours before Orlando Weekly received a response from the Florida Department of Transportation about its move to paint over the crosswalk, which reads, in part:

“As the state highway department, it is the duty of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to ensure the safety and consistency of public roadways and transportation systems. That means ensuring our roadways are not utilized for social, political, or ideological interests.”

Since the rainbow crosswalk’s removal, Orlando lawmakers, officials and community members have condemned the move and have gathered at the site to fill in the now-black crosswalk with rainbow-colored chalk and paint.

City officials said Thursday the act was completed without any prior notice or warning.

“We are devastated to learn that overnight the state painted over the Pulse Memorial crosswalk on Orange Avenue,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in a statement. “This callous action of hastily removing part of a memorial to what was at the time our nation’s largest mass shooting, without any supporting safety data or discussion, is a cruel, political act.”

Sen. Guillermo Smith on Thursday called the removal a “hostile act.”

“The reality is that this crosswalk was painted not only to remember the 49 people who were murdered here in cold blood, but it was also intended to keep pedestrians and visitors safe who have come here year after year to pay their respects,” Smith told Orlando Weekly.

“Fascism is knocking on our door,” he said.

DeSantis recently approved nearly $400,000 in requested state funds to help support the construction of a permanent memorial at Pulse. While an interim memorial has been set up outside of the property for years, a permanent memorial by the city to commemorate the 2016 shooting and honor the 49 victims is currently in the works. 

DeSantis earlier this year also faced criticism for his remembrance statement on the nine-year anniversary of the shooting, in which he omitted any mention of the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities, two groups that represented the majority of the victims.

According to FDOT, the city of Orlando did receive an initial notice from them in June to bring their roadways, including crosswalks up to state standards, following state and federal policy updates. But Dyer and Sheehan confirmed the city did not receive any notice or warning that the crosswalk would be painted over Wednesday night.

Rainbow crosswalks in Florida cities such as St. Petersburg, Key West and Delray Beach have also been subject to removal amid Trump administration-fueled efforts to erase sites of representation.

Reporter McKenna Schueler contributed to this story.

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This article appears in Best of Orlando (R) 2025.