Judge Orders Florida Rainbow Sidewalk Chalk Protestor Released From Jail—Arrests Continue

In the latest twist on DeSantis' war on Pride crosswalks in the state, a judge has ruled that police had no probable cause to arrest a sidewalk chalkers. Then, three more were arrested.

Gilbert Baker Foundation

Over the last two weeks, a war has broken out in Florida over Pride crosswalks. At the center is the Pulse Memorial Crosswalk, painted in rainbow colors to honor the lives lost in the 2016 Pulse massacre but since painted over by the anti-LGBTQ+ state authorities. State officials are moving to erase rainbow crosswalks across Florida, but the Pulse site has become a flashpoint of resistance. Protesters have returned again and again to chalk the rainbow colors back in, while state police have dispatched round-the-clock patrols to monitor the intersection. On Friday night, the conflict escalated: the first arrest was made—only for a judge to immediately order the protester’s release, ruling that Florida Highway Patrol had no probable cause, even as the state continues to detain others on identical charges.

The man, identified as Sebastian Suarez, was arrested after placing rainbow-colored chalk under his shoe and walking across the crosswalk, leaving a trail of rainbow footprints. Police charged him with “defacing a traffic device”—a charge that collapsed almost immediately in court. A judge ruled that officers had “no probable cause” to arrest the man after Suarez’s attorney pointed out that crosswalks are not included in the state’s legal definition of traffic devices. Moreover, courts have repeatedly ruled that sidewalk chalk is protected First Amendment speech, not graffiti, because of its temporary nature. Suarez was promptly released from custody.

"To come here and do something like this, and to be threatened with something so extreme as a felony charge for protesting and showing love to your fellow human, it’s just insane in my opinion," said Suarez in an interview with local news outlet, WESH. “We put some chalk down on the ground and before we knew it, an officer approached saying ‘hey, I want to talk to you.’ I came, I identified myself, tried to do everything the correct way, and before I knew it, I was in the back of a squad car.”

“He was the first person to take a fall in this political fight against the LGBTQ+ community, which I am an active part of,” said his attorney.

The Pulse Memorial Crosswalk was first painted over by Florida officials two weeks ago under orders from the Trump administration and the DeSantis government to erase Pride crosswalks statewide. Almost immediately, the Orlando community pushed back, chalking the crosswalk back into rainbow colors. Rather than allow that expression of solidarity, the Florida Highway Patrol deployed as many as seven squad cars to monitor the site around the clock, ensuring no colors would reappear. Since then, police have repeatedly harassed protesters who gather at the memorial.

Police sit near the Pride crosswalk in a Dunkin Donuts parking lot. Source: Brandon Wolf.

Protesters were undeterred by Suarez’s arrest. The very next day, they returned to the Pulse Memorial Crosswalk and once again chalked rainbow colors onto the pavement. This time, police escalated: three more individuals were arrested under the same charge that had been thrown out by a judge just 24 hours earlier.

Suarez’s attorney was on-site for the arrests and delivered a blistering critique to reporters. “I would like you all to look behind me and ask what damage actually occurred. It rained while they were being arrested and there is no longer any chalk on the sidewalk.” He vowed to hold the officers accountable, saying, “These officers have failed to follow their own department policy,” and accused them of knowingly violating protesters’ rights.

The state shows no signs of slowing its effort to erase Pride crosswalks. Governor Ron DeSantis, however, has tried to deflect responsibility, claiming that he is simply enforcing laws passed by the legislature. “There’s laws that are on the books that I enforce that I may not fully agree with, but I took an oath to do it and so that’s the way the cookie crumbles, and so but there was a change in law,” he said. Republican legislators pushed back on that framing almost immediately, with at least one pointing out that crosswalks or painted streets were “never brought up” in the law DeSantis cited.