{"id":383083,"date":"2026-07-22T23:21:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/383083\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T23:21:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:21:25","slug":"austin-removes-lgbt-pride-crosswalk-following-governors-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/383083\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Removes LGBT \u2018Pride\u2019 Crosswalk Following Governor\u2019s Order\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Austin\u2019s rainbow crosswalks were removed earlier this week following federal and state directives to remove political messages and artwork from city streets.<\/p>\n<p>The rainbow colored crosswalks were removed from 4th Street and Colorado Street. Conservative activists are celebrating the removal as a \u201cvictory\u201d on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/txvalues\/status\/2079637021111267748\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In fall 2025, Gov. <a class=\"cd-autolink\" href=\"https:\/\/texasscorecard.com\/directory\/officials\/greg-abbott\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Greg Abbott<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/texasscorecard.com\/state\/abbott-cracks-down-on-political-messages-on-texas-streets\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">directed<\/a> the Texas Department of Transportation to ensure compliance with a federal order issued by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that called for the removal of \u201c\u2018political messages of any nature\u2019 from intersections and crosswalks,\u201d describing them as \u201c\u2018distractions\u2019 that detract from roadway safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prior to its removal, KXAN reported that the city <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kxan.com\/news\/local\/austin\/austin-city-workers-remove-rainbow-crosswalks-early-monday-morning\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">requested<\/a> in May that the artwork remain on the sidewalks. The request was rejected, and the city was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kxan.com\/news\/local\/austin\/state-orders-austin-to-fix-noncompliant-street-markings\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">given until<\/a> June 22 to submit a plan to the state outlining how it would comply with the federal and state directives at multiple crosswalk locations.<\/p>\n<p>These locations are located at 4th and Colorado St, River on Lake Austin Boulevard, East 11th Street between Waller Street and Lydia Street, Guadalupe Street between W. 22nd Street and W. 24th Street, Traffic Circle at E. 22nd and Salina, and Traffic Circle at 53rd and Avenue H.<\/p>\n<p>KXAN also reported that Scott Neil, commissioner of City of Austin LGBTQ Quality of Life, has responded that \u201c\u2018no blowtorch or metal scraper\u2019 can remove the pride of LGBTQ+ Austinites.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alternative proposals, including murals, banners and sidewalk art, have already been made to \u201cpreserve community expression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In March, the City of San Antonio <a href=\"https:\/\/texasscorecard.com\/local\/san-antonio-snubs-state-road-regulation-with-rainbow-sidewalks\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">snubbed<\/a> the state and federal directives by installing rainbow sidewalks in the area where rainbow-colored crosswalks were formerly located.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/addie-writer-150x150.jpg\" class=\"avatar avatar-150 photo\" height=\"150\" width=\"150\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>                <\/p>\n<p>\n                        Addie Hovland is a journalist for Texas Scorecard. She hails from South Dakota and is passionate about spreading truth.                    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin\u2019s rainbow crosswalks were removed earlier this week following federal and state directives to remove political messages and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,135182,840],"class_list":["post-383083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-gender-politics","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}