Atlanta is showing its LGBTQ support this Pride Month, with Mayor Kasim Reed announcing that a rainbow-painted intersection would become a permanent fixture in the city’s midtown.
The decision was made Monday, June 12—exactly one year after 49 people lost their lives at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
Rainbow Crosswalks in Atlanta
Rainbow crosswalks were first painted in 2015 for Atlanta Pride, and returned to normal two weeks after the event ended. A petition began to circulate this April, calling for the permanent installation of the rainbow crosswalks at the 10th and Piedmont intersection, receiving 20,000 signatures within its first month. The positioning of this particular intersection is not random; many consider it to be the “epicenter of Atlanta’s LGBTQ district.”
Sarah Rose, Atlanta LGBTQ advocate, had started the petition, and explained that many states acknowledge their history with monuments or “historical markers of disenfranchised minorities.” She added, “Part of Atlanta’s DNA is the journey of different disenfranchised and marginalized minorities making their way to equality.”
It seems the petitioners’ voices were heard.
Since the tragedy at Pulse one year ago, the city of Atlanta has rallied behind its own LGBTQ community, according to Mayor Reed. There could not, he pointed out, be a more appropriate time to showcase that unwavering support, to take action, to reinstall the rainbow crosswalk as a physical symbol of “unity and solidarity.”
Reed said, “I believe that symbols of unity matter; in recognition of the outstanding and ongoing contributions of Atlanta’s LGBTQ community to our city, I am pleased to announce today that the City will install the rainbow crosswalks at the intersection of Piedmont Avenue and 10th Street year-round.”
Atlanta is not the only U.S. city to install rainbow crosswalks for Pride. San Francisco, West Hollywood, Seattle, Key West, Miami Beach, and Philadelphia have all shown their LGBTQ support in a similar fashion.
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