Q Toon: Driven to Destruction

Pete Buttigieg's successor as U.S. Secretary of Transportation is a former reality show celebutante and congresscritter from Wisconsin, Sean Duffy.

It's not the same Transportation Department now.

In a development that could impact all 50 states and the District of Columbia, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on July 1 announced a “nationwide roadway safety initiative” that political observers say could be used to require cities and states to remove LGBTQ supportive rainbow-colored street crosswalks. ... 

A July 1 statement released by the U.S. Department of Transportation says Duffy sent a letter that same day to the governors of all 50 states that followed an earlier letter sent to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser informing them of the department’s “Safe Arterials for Everyone” initiative to be carried out by the Federal Highway Administration. ...

“Secretary Duffy also noted in his letter that intersections and crosswalks need to be kept free from distractions,” the statement continues. “This includes political messages of any nature, artwork, or anything else that distracts from the core mission of driver and pedestrian safety,” the DOT statement says.

Although the DOT statement and Duffy’s letter to the governors do not specifically mention rainbow crosswalks, the [South Florida] Sun Sentinel reports that Duffy stated in a July 1 social media post that “Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks.”

One could just as easily argue that rainbow crosswalks enhance roadway safety, becoming more visible than the everyday white-only versions. Certainly they are no more distracting to motorists than, say, Christmas decorations or Chamber of Commerce banners displayed from light poles.

But erasing LGBTQ+ and minority presence from the public eye has been a sacred mission to Republican leaders, such as Florida's rabidly homophobic Gov. Ron DeSantis. If Sean Duffy has only insinuated intention to paint over rainbow crosswalks, DeSantis has explicitly demanded their removal.

A number of Florida cities have already complied with a new anti-rainbow crosswalk law; other communities are fighting it. A grass-roots coalition in Orlando hopes to save the rainbow crosswalk created as a memorial to the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016. (The nightclub itself is due to be demolished.) Key West city council planned to discuss a resolution to protect its rainbow crosswalk at Duval and Pretonia this week.

If Key West is successful, someone can compare and contrast its accident rate with Pensacola’s.