If you ask my granddaughter to name her favorite color, she will respond “rainbow.”
She has no idea about the suddenly (and politically) controversial subject of crosswalks in rainbow colors. She just knows that rainbows include all colors and, in storybooks, they are often a sign of comfort, safety and a promising future after a storm.
I am distressed that someone saw obliterating the rainbow crosswalk at the Pulse nightclub as a priority. It was clearly meant as a memorial to the victims of the mass shooting there, and as a comfort to a wounded community.
Of all the rainbow crosswalks in Florida, removing this one was beyond heartless.
It was a deliberate brutality. Have we really come to this?
David Blasco, Fort Lauderdale
We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes. https://t.co/AXY1qxsZNW
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) August 21, 2025
Streets, not symbols
Gays, Italians, Irish, Jews, Blacks, Haitians and Cubans are among the vibrant components of our South Florida landscape — as are, dare I say — white Christian heterosexuals (I’m so un-woke).
So who decided that the only group seemingly deserving of celebration in our crosswalks is the gay community? Are they the only downtrodden who need a public outpouring of support? Tell Jews and Blacks about that.
Right or wrong, some in our community do not support the gay lifestyle. Why should their tax money pay to celebrate something they don’t support? And given the constant financial stress our local governments are under, why spend money on painting streets at all? Or even worse, paying for lawsuits about it.
Just like holiday displays, maybe we could designate a local road and let everyone who wants to celebrate a group have its own section to paint. But then, as satanic displays would foretell, what would we do with the swastikas? Maybe letting a street just be a street, not a political symbol, is the best policy.
Tom Bolf, Plantation
(Editor’s Note: Some rainbow crosswalks, such as Delray Beach’s, were paid for with private donations, not tax dollars.)
Obliterating our values
I won’t repeat the arguments on the true meanings of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). They speak for themselves. People died to uphold our freedoms and inclusions for all people in this country, but the current administration wages war on our rights, piece by piece.
And yet Gov. Ron DeSantis said this on the issue of rainbow crosswalks: “We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes.”
He’s the one who paints them in the color of politics. As to commandeering, I see none. We still use them as intended. That’s double talk. It sounds like “woke” in reverse.
Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, says taxpayers expect to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks. It is an absurdity that rainbow-painted crosswalks are less safe than black crosswalks with yellow and or white painted traffic lines.
I applaud the cities that stand up to this administration when it tries to obliterate what this country has and still stands for. I oppose politicization of our rights and freedoms and do not need this administration to tell me what’s moral and what isn’t. That, in itself, is immoral.
Nina Leonard, St. Augustine
Raiding Bolton’s home
With regard to the raid of the home of John Bolton in Maryland, FBI Director Kash Patel was quoted as saying, “No one is above the law.”
I’d like to know if that includes the current occupant of the White House.
Pat Eland, Delray Beach
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