following a recent directive<\/a> from the Trump administration. <\/p>\nFor some, the artwork had served as part of a memorial honoring the 49 victims of the 2016 mass shooting at the LGBTQ nightclub. <\/p>\n
James Houchins, one of the protesters taken into custody, says the fight is far from over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought \u2014 how stupid,\u201d Houchins said, recalling the Nov. 23 arrest. <\/p>\n
He and fellow activist Austin Trahan were taken into custody after chalking the word \u2018RESIST\u2019 and adding colors back to the crosswalk. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were told that morning around 8 o\u2019clock that FDOT came through, washed everything, and removed everything. After that, we came back to re-chalk, recolor, and put flags back out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houchins said the rainbow crosswalk had become a significant part of the community\u2019s remembrance efforts. <\/p>\n
\u201cForty-nine victims \u2014 this was part of the memorial until the state came in and ripped it up like it was nothing. So continuing this fight until those colors are returned \u2014 it hits deep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Initially, both men faced a felony criminal mischief charge. A judge later found no probable cause for the felony but did find probable cause for a lesser misdemeanor charge to move forward.<\/p>\n
FDOT and the Florida Highway Patrol have argued that a crosswalk is a \u201ctraffic control device,\u201d and altering it \u2014 even with chalk \u2014 violates state regulations. Houchins and other advocates dispute that interpretation.<\/p>\n
When asked whether he plans to continue chalking the crosswalk, Houchins didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cYes \u2014 the chalking won\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
To many passersby, Houchins said, it may seem like just a crosswalk. But for him and others in Orlando\u2019s LGBTQ community, it represents something larger.<\/p>\n
\u201cContinuing to show up for me is a fight back that you\u2019re not going to erase me, and you won\u2019t erase my community,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are not going to fight or go away silently. Stonewall started with a brick, and in Florida, it starts with chalk.\u201d<\/p>\n
News 6 has reached out to FDOT and FHP for comment regarding the arrests and is awaiting a response.<\/p>\n
Houchins says the movement now looks toward Day 100 on Saturday \u2014 another milestone in a protest he insists will continue.<\/p>\n
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Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A crosswalk outside the former Pulse nightclub continues to sit at the center of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[265,1335,139,141,140,8309,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-64108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-crime","9":"tag-orange-county","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-news","13":"tag-pulse-nightclub","14":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64108","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=64108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}