Florida paints on memorial zebra crossing for LGBTQ stoppers

In Orlando in the US state of Florida, a rainbow zebra crossing has been removed to memory of the victims of the attack on the night club Pulse. “We are shaken that the state has painted over the pulse commemorative zebra crossing (…) overnight,” said Mayor Buddy Dyer on platform X. Orlando will continue to honor the 49 people who were killed in the attack on the club, which was popular with the LGBTQ community in 2016, the Democrat emphasized. At that time, the attacker claimed a connection to the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS).

Dyer wrote about a “cruel political action”. The measure was “prematurely” – without any data basis or public discussion. A survivor of the attack said that a sign of solidarity was “wiped out”. The state of the state has delegated the memory of the dead, wrote Brandon Wolf at X.

While the city of Orlando is democratically governed, the state of Florida is run by the Republican governor Ron Desantis. He also wrote at X that it would not be “not allowed to be misused for political purposes.

In many US cities, colorful road paintings have emerged in recent years-often to remind you of victims of violence or as a visible sign of support for minorities. As part of a new initiative, the U.S. Transport Ministry recently had to pay more attention to uniform and clearly recognizable road markings. The aim of the campaign is therefore to reduce distractions for drivers and avoid accidents.

However, critics refer to a study by the Bloomberg Foundation, which suggests the opposite results: According to this, artistically designed zebra strips can even increase security because drivers are rather braking and granting right of way. With a view of the zebra crossing in Orlando, Mayor Dyer emphasized that the city had attached it in coordination with the state and complied with national standards. The rainbow painting has improved safety for pedestrians.