Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has joined the effort to blot out rainbow crosswalks on public streets.
That means the Lone Star State will follow the lead of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and states including Florida, which has continued to erase all street art in the name of erasing “political ideologies” from the roadways.
The Texas Department of Transportation sent a memo to local governments announcing it would adhere to Duffy’s direction to keep crosswalks “free from distractions.” That means Texas won’t allow any public art, political messaging, or any other nonstandard markings.
Related: Erasing our rainbow crosswalks in places like Key West erases us, too
“Pavement markings such as decorative crosswalks, murals, or markings conveying artwork or other messages are prohibited on travel lanes, shoulders, intersections, and crosswalks unless they serve a direct traffic control or safety function. This prohibition includes the use of symbols, flags, or other markings conveying any message or communications,” reads a memo published by San Antonio’s NBC affiliate.
Now government officials in cities such as Dallas, Houston ,and San Antonio have 30 days to paint over the rainbow decorations in crosswalks or risk losing state funding, according to Texas Public Radio.
"None of this is in the name of public safety," James Poindexter of Pride San Antonio told his local NBC station. "It's all in the name of political stunt."
Meanwhile, Florida continues to impose its anti-color agenda. Department of Transportation officials in the Sunshine State this week removed an iconic rainbow crosswalk from Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, as reported by an NBC affiliate in South Florida.
Related: Revenge of Transportation head Sean Duffy, wronged by a lesbian and a gay man: banning rainbow crosswalks"
"All of a sudden all these [Florida Department of Transportation] trucks showed up, an army of workers, heavy machinery. No notice to our city," Miami Beach City Commissioner Alex Fernandez told the station.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has pushed for the removal of all public street art in the state to satisfy Duffy’s fight against rainbow crosswalks. He started with an unannounced paint-over of a rainbow crosswalk in front of the Pulse nightclub in Orlando that was created to honor victims of the 2016 mass shooting at the gay club.
"We’re not doing the commandeering of the roads to put up messaging,” DeSantis said in August to defend the attack on art, Pride, and any honoring of murder victims.
Notably, there is no evidence that street art in crosswalks causes more accidents. In fact, a 2022 Bloomberg study found decorated crosswalks see a 50 percenr drop in collisions.
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