Erasing the Pulse Nightclub memorial sidewalk dishonors the 49 lives lost. Tell DeSantis to restore it and protect LGBTQ+ history
John,
“Never Forget,”wrote Billy Eichner, creator of the film Bros, one year after the horrific 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. To help keep memory strong, he posted a collage he had made of the 49 victims who died:
Taking a moment to look at each person’s face, and to know that each one represents an entire life full of love, laughter, celebration, and tears -- this is the purpose of a memorial.
And now, a loving tribute designed and formally approved by the Orlando community -- a rainbow-painted crosswalk outside the former nightclub -- has been removed against the community’s will due to Governor DeSantis’ implementation of a Trump Executive Order.
Trump’s order, made without any safety studies or any concerns for First Amendment free speech rights, bans all street art across the country that he deems “political.” Since the far right and its MAGA supporters have continuously vilified the LGBTQ+ community, there is little surprise that DeSantis chose to single out this particular memorial for erasure.
No sooner had the protestors who turned out used paint and chalk to bring the memorial back, than the state crews rushed to erase it again. This blatant attack on free speech is not just cruel. It is profoundly undemocratic. It is an attempt to blot out memory, history, and identity.
Memorials matter. The rainbow colors represented not only grief but affirmation -- of life, of pride, of resilience. They honored those who were murdered simply for being themselves. To destroy that public remembrance is to desecrate the memory of the victims, and to wound a community that still carries the scars of that night.
This erasure belongs to a disturbing pattern in MAGA’s drive to dominate American culture: the banning of LGBTQ+ books from public spaces, schools, and libraries, censoring Pride displays -- and now literally erasing history from the streets.
It’s an authoritarian campaign to deny reality, to control what communities are allowed to see, remember, and celebrate. We cannot let them succeed.
Sent via ActionNetwork.org.
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