With Florida’s new “Freedom Summer” initiative, Governor Ron DeSantis has decreed that all bridges in the state will only be lit in red, white and blue at night from May 27 to September 2. RadarOnline.com has learned.
“As Floridians prepare for Freedom Summer, Florida’s bridges will follow suit and light up in red, white and blue from Memorial Day to Labor Day!” Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation Jared Perdue wrote on X. “Thanks to Governor Ron DeSantis’ leadership, Florida remains the freest state in the country.”
Bridges across the state often display different colors to recognize different holidays or events, such as Pride Month in June, which has seen the iconic Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge lit in rainbow colors in recent years.
Some see this new initiative as a direct attack on Florida’s LGBTQ community. “The bridge lights were about celebrating diversity and inclusion, which will continue to happen in our communities,” Carlos Guillermo Smiththe senior policy advisor for Equality Florida said The Washington Post in a statement.
“LGBTQ Floridians will proudly raise our flags even higher and our lights will only shine brighter in the darkness they have created.”
In addition to the rainbow for Pride Month, the Ringling Causeway Bridge over Sarasota Bay usually lights up orange for National Gun Violence Awareness Month, also in June, and yellow for Women’s Equality Day on August 26.
“It’s very popular,” Sarasota mayor Liz Alpert said about the bridge lights. “But the state controls the bridge, so we don’t control the lights. People are disappointed.”
Similarly, Acosta Bridge in Jacksonville uses its “dynamic LED lighting system” to display red, black and green colors for Juneteenth and pink, blue and red to celebrate the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp minor league baseball team.
“No matter which bridge you’re standing on, you can see those colors, shining brightly from that bridge. And it really is a beautiful sight,” said Kimberly Allen, CEO of local advocacy organization 904Ward that promotes diversity and inclusion. “When we recognize things like Juneteenth or our local sports team, that’s part of what adds to the vibrancy of the city.”
“I think the undertones of this are what’s sticking,” she added of DeSantis’ “Freedom Summer” initiative. “Why at this time, in this month, why is that happening now?”
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DeSantis announced the “Freedom Summer” campaign in April as a Freedom Month sales tax holiday to make sales of fishing supplies and outdoor recreation equipment tax-free in July and let families visit Florida state parks for free during Memorial Day Weekend.
According to The Post, Perdue issued the statewide order limiting bridge lighting to red, white and blue after Manatee County Commissioner Mike Rahnwhose county borders part of Tampa Bay, objected to the rainbow lights of the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Rah declined to comment, saying only that “the Governor and Secretary of Transportation have made the decision that all bridges in Florida will be lit in red, white and blue from Memorial Day through Labor Day.”
