Gabrielle Russon
Orange County State Attorney Monique Worrell says she is reviewing the latest arrests over Pulse’s rainbow crosswalk while Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed the protestors who have redrawn the colors with chalk.
“You don’t have a First Amendment right to commandeer someone else’s property,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Orlando. “You have a First Amendment right to paint your own property. Knock yourself out if that’s what you want to do. But when you have a state crosswalk or a state road … you do not have a right to take somebody else’s property for your messaging purposes.”
Meanwhile, Worrell said her Office will “review each case with fairness, transparency, and respect for both the law and the community we serve.”
“The rainbow crosswalk is more than a street marking. It is a memorial to the 49 lives taken at Pulse and a symbol of love and resilience for our community,” Worrell said in a statement. “Its removal has sparked deep emotion, and we recognize the significance this site holds for so many.”
DeSantis and Worrell have a long history.
The Governor suspended Worrell, a Democrat, in 2023 in what critics called a politically motivated move. Worrell won re-election in November and returned to office in January to represent Orange and Osceola counties.
The two officials’ remarks come after Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) paved over the rainbow crosswalk at Pulse without alerting city officials in advance the night of Aug. 20.
The crosswalk, installed in 2017 with state approval, honored the 49 victims of the Pulse LGBT+ nightclub shooting from 2016. At the time, it was the country’s deadliest mass shooting.
Since the rainbows were painted black, protestors armed with chalk have been redecorating the site.
DeSantis has criticized local governments and protestors in past press conferences, saying they felt they are above state law after FDOT issued a memo banning decorated crosswalks.
On Tuesday, in his latest remarks, DeSantis called it “an instructive civics lesson.”
One comment
Ron Ogden
September 2, 2025 at 7:52 pm
No person or group has a right to satiate their emotions by dousing the unwilling passerby with them. Keep your feelings to yourself. Otherwise you are merely a recent sort of bully, and no different from the low-browed cave man from the not so distant past.