{"id":429077,"date":"2026-10-16T01:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T01:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429077\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T01:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T01:30:12","slug":"drag-queen-turns-florida-rainbow-crosswalk-into-pride-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429077\/","title":{"rendered":"Drag queen turns Florida rainbow crosswalk into Pride funds"},"content":{"rendered":"

A South Florida<\/a> drag queen<\/a> is giving a dismantled rainbow crosswalk new life, raising thousands of dollars to support LGBTQ+<\/a> Pride<\/a> celebrations statewide.<\/p>\n

Eric Swanson, who performs as Miss Bouv\u00e8\u00e9, acquired 50 bricks from Miami Beach’s former rainbow crosswalk at 12th Street and Ocean Drive through a city auction. Now, Miss Bouv\u00e8\u00e9 is offering the salvaged bricks to supporters in exchange for donations starting at $250, with proceeds benefiting Naples Pride and Key West Pride, CBS Miami reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to an Instagram post from Miss Bouv\u00e8\u00e9, the fundraiser has two separate goals: $15,000 for Naples Pride, more than half of which has already been raised, and $7,500 for Key West Pride, with $600 raised so far.<\/p>\n

Florida officials removed the colorful crosswalk, installed in November 2018, in October 2025 after ordering cities to eliminate street art from public roadways. Miami Beach unsuccessfully challenged the order before the Florida Department of Transportation dismantled the landmark.<\/p>\n

Many of the original bricks were repurposed for a nearby pedestrian pathway. Miss Bouv\u00e8\u00e9 said she painted some of the remaining bricks to ensure all six rainbow colors were represented, because bricks in some colors were in short supply.<\/p>\n

Supporters can receive individual bricks, framed rainbow-painted bricks, or framed sets of six bricks, depending on their donation. Each offering includes a commemorative plaque identifying the crosswalk\u2019s original location and the dates it was installed and removed.<\/p>\n

Donors make contributions directly to Naples Pride or Key West Pride through links provided by Miss Bouv\u00e8\u00e9, who then arranges pickup, delivery, or shipping of the bricks.<\/p>\n

Miss Bouv\u00e8\u00e9 was featured in The Advocate\u2019s sibling publication\u2019s 2025 Out100<\/a> and starred in the queer horror comedy Big Easy Queens<\/a>. She is also set to return as a co-host of this year\u2019s Out100<\/a> celebration.<\/p>\n

The fundraiser comes amid broader challenges for Florida Pride organizations. Earlier this year, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation<\/a> restricting local governments from funding or promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, raising concerns about support for LGBTQ+ events.<\/p>\n

For Miss Bouv\u00e8\u00e9, the bricks offer a way to preserve a piece of LGBTQ+ history while helping Pride celebrations continue. \u201cThis is a part of our history,\u201d she wrote on Instagram. \u201cYour donation helps history continue to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those interested in supporting the fundraiser can find more information and request a brick through Miss Bouv\u00e8\u00e9\u2019s brick inquiry form<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A South Florida drag queen is giving a dismantled rainbow crosswalk new life, raising thousands of dollars to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[40338,168603,168604,1642,168605,168602,4382,412,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-429077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-drag-queen","tag-florida-pride-fundraiser","tag-key-west-pride","tag-miami-beach","tag-miss-bouvee","tag-naples-pride","tag-rainbow-crosswalk","tag-ron-desantis","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}