A group of University of Florida students offered rainbows Thursday in response to a state mandate from earlier this year.
On June 30, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) ordered non-traditionally painted sidewalks to be removed, claiming not doing so would result in losing transportation funding. This targets many rainbow painted crosswalks across the state, and the three in downtown Gainesville.
In response, Generation Action, a student affiliate with Planned Parenthood Gainesville organized an event to paint a rainbow crosswalk under Norman Tunnel, according to Amanda Hiatt, president of the student organization
“We’re painting rainbows across the Norman Tunnel in an act of visibility after the Florida Department of Transportation applied pressure to cities across the state, saying that it is a distraction," Hiatt said. "We just want to do it in a place where they can’t get rid of it. It’s not going to be that alleged distraction, but we could still show that gay people are still here and it’s so important to have this visibility.”