Four people have been arrested in Orlando after attempting to restore the rainbow stripes on the Pulse nightclub memorial crossing, prompting widespread criticism over the handling of a site regarded as a place of remembrance. The arrests took place on Sunday, August 30, when Orestes Sebastian Suarez, 29, Maryjane East, 25, Donavon Short, 26, and Zane Aparicio, 39, were detained by Florida Highway Patrol officers. They were accused of “defacing a traffic device” after using chalk to repaint the rainbow, which had been stripped away from the crossing earlier in the month.
The charge is usually applied to cases involving interference with electronic equipment such as traffic lights. Suarez, initially held on that basis, allegedly coated his shoes in chalk and walked across the road to leave colourful footprints. A judge, however, ruled there was no probable cause for his arrest and ordered his release. At a subsequent hearing, the other three defendants were also released without charges pending.
Their lawyer, Blake Simons, condemned the arrests as disproportionate and baseless. “I would argue water-soluble chalk that washes away while you’re being arrested doesn’t amount to over $1,000 worth of damage,” he told the Orlando Sentinel.
The dispute stems from the sudden removal of the rainbow-painted crossing outside Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Wednesday, August 20. It came after the Florida Department of Transportation issued a directive prohibiting crosswalk markings or surface art “associated with social, political, or ideological messages”.
Installed initially in 2017, a year after the massacre at Pulse nightclub that claimed 49 lives and injured dozens more, the rainbow stripes were intended as both a tribute to the lives lost and a symbol of solidarity in the wake of what was then the deadliest mass shooting in the United States.
The decision to remove the rainbow crossing drew immediate condemnation. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called it “a cruel political act”, describing the removal as a callous effort that disregarded both safety procedures and the sensitivities of a grieving community.
Brandon Wolf, who lived through the massacre, described the erasure of the Pulse memorial as “a desecration of the victims’ memories”. On social media, he wrote: “In the dark of night, they came to erase our show of solidarity, our declaration that we will never forget.”
By the following afternoon, dozens of LGBTQ+ people and allies had gathered to restore the rainbow with chalk and Pride flags in a peaceful act of protest. Authorities soon stationed highway patrol officers at the site and erected signs reading “Defacing Roadway Prohibited” and “No Impeding Traffic”.
The future of the crossing remains uncertain, but activists have vowed to continue defending it, insisting that the rainbow will endure as a living memorial.
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