DeSantis defends Pulse crosswalk arrests

Skyler Swisher, Orlando Sentinel on Sep 2, 2025

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis defended Tuesday the arrest of protesters accused of using chalk to color a crosswalk near the Pulse memorial in defiance of the state’s crackdown on street art.

“You don’t have a First Amendment right to commandeer someone else’s property,” DeSantis said at an Orlando event. “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, the law in the state of Florida is now that there’s not markings.”

Tensions have reached a boiling point over the state’s decision to remove a pro-LGBTQ rainbow crosswalk near the former gay nightclub where 49 people were shot and killed in 2016. Four people were arrested over the Labor Day weekend and accused of interfering with a traffic control device.

The Florida Highway Patrol has been stationed near the crosswalk for days. Troopers were sent there after protesters used colored chalk to return the crosswalk back to its rainbow pattern. A back-and-forth battle emerged with protesters coloring the crosswalk and then state crews restoring it to its standard black-and-white pattern.

Late last week, the state put signs at the intersection instructing visitors that defacing the roadway or sidewalk was prohibited.

State Attorney Monique Worrell’s office did not immediately comment Tuesday on whether she will prosecute the cases against those arrested over the weekend.

Asked about the arrests, DeSantis said state transportation officials have a duty to ensure the “roads remain clean.”

“Hang up a flag,” he said. “Do what you want on your building, your house, however you want to do it. We’re not going to be doing that on our state roadways.”

Blake Simons, an attorney representing the protesters, said the markings didn’t damage the crosswalks. He argues chalk drawings on a crosswalk are protected by the First Amendment.

“The chalk washes away,” he said. “It is not graffiti.”

Maryjane East, 25, Donavon Short, 26, and Zane Aparicio, 39, were arrested and booked by Florida Highway Patrol on Sunday night outside the Pulse memorial. The trio is accused of applying “unauthorized chalk markings to the crosswalk,” according to arrest affidavits.

The Florida Department of Transportation estimated it cost $1,562 to return the crosswalk to its “original state,” according to police records.

Simons called the state’s cost estimate to wash away water-soluble chalk an exaggeration.

Those arrests came after Orestes Sebastian Suarez was arrested Friday night by FHP on the same charge. Suarez was also released shortly after he was booked after the judge found no probable cause that he committed a crime. He was accused of putting chalk on his shoes to make markings on the crosswalk.

The Florida Department of Transportation approved the Pulse crosswalk in 2017. But earlier this summer, it launched a crackdown on street art, painting over the Pulse crosswalk late Aug. 20.

Since then, the state has removed everything from checkered-flag crosswalks near the Daytona International Speedway to swan-patterned crossings near Lake Eola Park in Orlando. It also has ordered other cities, including Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale, to remove rainbow street art and said colorful bike lanes designed by school children as part of state-sponsored contests need to go too.

The removals came in the wake of a July 1 directive from Sean Duffy, President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, introducing a “safety initiative” seeking consistent markings on roads.

Opponents of colorful crosswalks argue they could pose a safety hazard. But an Orlando Sentinel analysis of city traffic data shows the opposite. City data shows that decorative crosswalks and murals, such as the one near Pulse, helped reduce crashes with pedestrians despite increased foot traffic.

Simons said he views the removal of the Pulse crosswalk an attack on the LGBTQ community, and he is representing the protesters at no charge.

“I am not going to stand for our civil rights to be trampled upon,” he said.

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