Ron DeSantis Wants The Pulse Memorial Gone So He’s Arresting Anyone Who Restores It
State officials in Florida have taken the extraordinary step of arresting community members for restoring the rainbow crosswalk at the Pulse nightclub memorial, after the tribute was officially painted over in late August.
Pulse Memorial’s rainbow crosswalk removed again by Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) after locals restored it #NOH8 pic.twitter.com/TH5Kb5p3AE
— NOH8 Campaign (@NOH8Campaign) August 26, 2025
On August 20, the colourful tribute to the 49 victims of the 2016 massacre was covered in grey and white paint by the Florida Department of Transportation. Officials cited a directive from President Donald Trump, with Governor Ron DeSantis stating:
“We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes.”
This justification did little to soften the blow for a community that viewed the act as a deliberate erasure of a sacred memorial.
I love that volunteers repainted Orlando’s Pulse Memorial crosswalk in rainbow colors after a state crew painted over it. Originally installed in 2017, a year after the Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 49 people, the crosswalk is seen as a memorial to those killed. 💜🌈 pic.twitter.com/uC3TscxsdX
— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) August 23, 2025
But chalk and courage fought back…
Locals quickly responded by redrawing the rainbow stripes in chalk. When that was washed away, they returned with more permanent means. This led to the arrests of at least four people, including Orestes Sebastian Suarez, 29, and three others, on suspicion of defacing a traffic device.
In a significant rebuke of the state’s actions, a judge found no probable cause for Suarez’s arrest, and the other three were released without charge.
The message this sends to every LGBTQ American is “we hate you and don’t care if you ☠️.”
— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) August 31, 2025
There is no other interpretation. If a rainbow crosswalk upsets you this much, you’re the problem. pic.twitter.com/rI2vEXLbkl
Suarez later told news outlet WESH 2, “To be threatened with something so extreme as a felony charge for protesting and showing love to your fellow human, it’s insane in my opinion.” In response to the community’s persistence, police have since installed a sign at the site that simply reads: “Defacing sidewalk prohibited.”
