Key West, Florida gets permanent rainbow crossings
The Florida city of Key West has got a set of permanent rainbow crossings.
Four crosswalks were installed at the intersection of Duval and Petronia streets, in the heart of the island’s LGBT area.
“Key West is very happy to be putting in the first thermoplastic permanent rainbow crosswalks in the state of Florida,” said Mayor Craig Cates.
“It means so much to Key West to show our diversity, and also it goes perfectly with our ‘One Human Family’ motto.”
The campaign to install the crossings was led by the city and the Key West Business Guild.
They were created using thermoplastic colour blocks, and were heat-treated with propane torches, in order to make them permanent.
The city of Key West adopted “one human family” as its official philosophy in 2000, and has longstanding commitments to equality.
“Accepting diversity has been going on for generations in Key West, mainly starting back when Key West was an island with no access but boats,” said Cates. “Everybody learned to live together, accept one another, so that has continued on through generations and is very evident today.”
The crossings were installed on Thursday, they will be officially opened on Wednesday 10 June, to kick off the city’s pride celebrations.
