Jacksonville Bridge Turns Rainbow Lights Back on After State’s Pride Month Move Backfires
WHODUNNIT?
The rainbow lights are back on for Jacksonville’s Acosta Bridge in celebration of Pride Month, but allegations continue to fly over who’s to blame for the plug-pulling in the first place, NBC News reports. A spokeswoman for Ron DeSantis was quick to say that Florida’s Republican governor was not involved, but many in Florida’s LGBT community aren’t buying that after he recently moved to ban transgender athletes from school and college sports on the first day of Pride Month, and followed that up by striking funds to assist victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre. According to an email by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, the order to kill the lights apparently came from an Florida Department of Transportation official, Mark Kuhn, who wrote that there were “several complaints” about the rainbow color scheme. Kuhn did not say who complained.
In a statement, FDOT spokeswoman Beth Frady said the agency has allowed the JTA to move forward with the rainbow lights, saying it is “obviously a matter of broad community interest.”