Why did Florida block Pride displays on bridges? Here's how the LGBTQ+ community is reacting

Why was the Main Street Bridge in Jacksonville lit up with rainbow lights Friday night?

Because the state blocked it from happening on the Acosta Bridge a short distance away.

For several years the city has programmed the lights on the Acosta Bridge for a week in June to become a vibrant rainbow display in honor of Pride Month, commemorating the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York and the LGBTQ+ community's fight for equal rights.

But after the Florida Department of Transportation made that impossible this year, some of the local LGBTQ+ community took matters (and powerful LED flashlights) in their own hands on the night before Pride Month began to make their own rainbow.

"We thought we'd get 35 people for the bridge," said Jacksonville resident Matt McAllister, who helped pull the event together in just 48 hours. "We thought that would be a good night — that we'd get a couple of pictures and send them to our friends and say we did something. That this took off in such a way is so pleasing."

The display directive comes as the state was listed on the Safe Home blog as second-to-last on its list of LGBTQ+ safety. Last year the LGBTQ+ civil rights group Equality Florida and the Human Rights Campaign issued travel advisories against Florida due to the number of "hostile" anti-LGBTQ laws passed in 2023.

Here's what the latest rainbow battle is all about.

Why did Florida block Pride displays on bridges?

Technically, it didn't. The state just pre-empted any efforts to display any other colors besides patriotic ones for the next couple of months, which just happens to block the colorful Pride displays that residents have seen emblazoned the past few years across bridges with programmable lights such as the Acosta Bridge in Jacksonville, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa and the John Ringling Causeway Bridge in Sarasota.

"As Floridians prepare for Freedom Summer, Florida's bridges will follow suit, illuminating in red, white, and blue from Memorial Day through Labor Day!" said FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue in a post to X, formerly Twitter, in May. "Thanks to the leadership of @GovRonDeSantis, Florida continues to be the freest state in the nation!"

The restriction could also block other public awareness displays such as National Gun Violence Awareness Month, Juneteenth, World Fragile X Day, Women's Equality Day and National Recovery Month.

The directive came after Manatee County Commission Chairman Mike Rahn publicly opposed lighting the Sunshine Skyway Bridge for Pride Month and for National Gun Violence Awareness Day. The Tampa Bay Times reported that Rahn approved lighting displays for the Alzheimer’s Foundation, National Ovarian Cancer Month and others, but not those two.

"My concern is if we're going to do it for one group, we have to do it for all groups, no matter what their political stance is," Rahn said. "I feel, personally, that the bridge is being politicized by different organizations."

What lighting displays have Florida bridges had in the past?

Just in 2024, the schedule for the Ringling Bridge light displays lists 38 different holidays, commemorations and awareness campaigns listed, including Law Enforcement Appreciation Day (blue), Martin Luther King Day (red, white and blue), Women's History Month (purple), Animal Cruelty Prevention Month (purple), the first day of Spring (pirouette pink), Child Abuse Awareness Month (Dark Blue), Sexual Assault Awareness Month (light blue), Support Our Troops Month (yellow), Hispanic Heritage Month (teal and orange), Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day (teal, green and pink) and many more.

The displays planned for the next few months have been canceled, with the exception of Juneteenth and Independence Day.

Along with the usual holiday and events, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge has been lit up with purple for International Drug Overdose Awareness Day, yellow and blue for Ukraine, and blue and white to support Israel.

The Jacksonville Travel Authority lists 91 different approved color schemes for the Acosta Bridge, although seven of them are for the Jacksonville Jaguars ( allteal, except for a pink, blue and red display in May) and five are for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (pink, blue and red).

Can Florida tell local governments what displays they can have?

Over structures under state control, yes. FDOT is the legal owner of the bridges but has previously allowed local governments to decide on displays. That's been overridden by the new statewide directive.

The city of Sarasota, which has lit up the John Ringling Causeway Bridge for Pride Month before (despite controversy) said there's nothing they can do.

"The Ringling Causeway Bridge is maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation, which also controls the bridge lighting," said city spokesman Luke Mocherman. "As the city cannot supersede the State, all bridge lighting schemes previously approved by the city for special recognition between Memorial Day and Labor Day will not be provided in accordance with FDOT’s directive that bridge lighting remain red, white, and blue."

What is Florida Freedom Summer?

At the beginning of May, DeSantis signed the Freedom Month Sales Tax Holiday into law, making many recreational items and admission to state parks and museums tax-free between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2024. He also announced that all Florida state parks will be free to enter during the Memorial Day weekend.

In social media posts, he referred to the move as Florida Freedom Summer, as he has in previous years, and didn't mention bridge lighting.

But after Rahn objected, Perdue announced that only the three patriotic colors would be permitted from May 27 through Sept. 2.

Has Florida tried to block Pride lighting displays before?

In 2021, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority lit up the Acosta Bridge in rainbow lights but the FDOT ordered it to be stopped, saying it violated regulations, and denied a request from the city of Sarasota to shine rainbow lights on the John Ringling Causeway Bridge. After protests and media attention, the FDOT allowed Jacksonville's display to return, allowed Pride lighting on the other two bridges.

The FDOT bridge lighting policy allows "the recognition, commemoration, or promotion of federal or state holidays or celebrations, and events of broad community interest and significance approved by county or local governments," but says "department reserves the right to refuse any request it deems offensive or not in the best public interest."

‘No one felt safe’: Florida schools, students feel effects of so-called ‘Don't Say Gay’ law

A bill introduced this year would have prevented Pride flags (or any other flags that represented a "political ideology") from display at public buildings but it failed to move forward.

After 2020 saw the passage of the Parental Rights in Education Act, which critics dubbed "Don't Say Gay," school districts began ordering teachers to remove any rainbow Safe Space or allyship stickers and posters from their classrooms for fear of running afoul of the vague restrictions or being sued by parents.

Contributors: Jesse Mendoza, Sarasota Herald-Tribune; David Bauerlein, Florida Times-Union

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida LGBTQ+ community lights up bridge, defies FDOT summer plan