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Recently Repainted LGBTQ Pride Street Mural Defaced By Tire Marks

Updated: Saturday, 6:01 a.m. ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A vibrant Grand Central District street mural painted in rainbow colors to represent the LGBTQ+ Progress Pride flag was recently defaced by tire marks. The mural, located at the intersection of Central Avenue and 25th Street, was recently repainted by volunteers on May 6 just ahead of LGBTQ+ Pride month in June. It was initially painted in 2020. Rachel Covello, publisher of OutCoast.com and organizer of FLOCC, an LGBTQ+ travel and tourism conference in Florida, said she first noticed the tire marks Friday around 12:30 p.m. and she immediately called the St. Petersburg Police Department’s non-emergency line. “I’m having a hard time believing that it’s not intentional,” she told Patch. Related Stories: Covello added, “It’s frustrating. They just painted this crosswalk and so much love and community spirit goes into painting a crosswalk to have one person — and I use the word person instead of the word I really want to say — destroy something that really is just a symbol of love and unity, it just boggles my mind.” She believes the tire marks were left behind some time Friday morning. St. Petersburg Police Department received a call about the mural just before 2 p.m. An officer was sent to the intersection and an investigation is currently open, Ken Knight, public information officer, told Patch. He said that he wasn’t sure if leaving tire marks on the street was a crime. In February, a Clearwater man was arrested and charged with felony criminal mischief and reckless endangerment for performing burnouts and leaving behind marks on a rainbow street mural in Delray Beach. This caused significant damage to the streetscape painting, “which serves as a symbol of unity and inclusivity for the LGBTQ community,” the city of Delray Beach said in a news release. One volunteer who helped refresh the Grand Central District mural on May 6, is frustrated by tire marks. “It’s sad. I was excited to help repaint this intersection where Pride began in St Pete. To give shine and peps back to a symbol that’s about making sure those who have been excluded know that they’re absolutely welcome,” the volunteer, who asked to remain anonymous, told Patch. “And now to see this. It’s sad. That people feel that everyone being included is a threat. A threat to what? To exclusion and hate and oppression? Sorry about that!” They said the paint used on the mural was specially formulated by Sherwin Williams to resist tire burnouts, so the tire marks should be easy to clean. Still, “I don’t see how it could be accidental,” they added. “It's a single action from someone with hate in their heart, fed by the rhetoric being created in Florida and throughout the county,” Jim Nixon, the city’s former LGBTQ liaison who organized the repainting of the mural, told Patch. “It only reminds (us of the) the work left to do and that we have to stand together with our Allies and the entire LGBTQ+ community. Let this remind us why we need Pride, and that no one will diminish our love and joy.” He added, “It happens all the time. It's nothing new. It will fade. We continue to stand together. It's all we can do.” St. Petersburg has consistently earned a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Municipality Equality Index, which is designed to help residents and visitors understand how inclusive a city’s laws and policies are of LGBTQ+ people. Even in a place as inclusive as St. Petersburg, Covello said she’s “not surprised” that the Pride street mural might have been targeted. “There are homophobes everywhere — California, New York, St. Petersburg — every inclusive place,” she said. “It’s just unfortunate this one decided to make a statement in an ugly way.” The tire marks on the mural come on the heels of the Florida Department of Transportation deciding not to light the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which touches Hillsborough, Manatee and Pinellas counties, in rainbow colors for Pride. The agency also won’t recognize other awareness efforts, including for autism, gun control, mental health and ovarian cancer, with light displays in colors associated with those national campaigns. Instead, the bridge will display red, white and blue colors in recognition of the state’s Freedom Summer Sales Tax Holiday. It will be lit in these colors from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The city of St. Petersburg has other ways of recognizing Pride month planned. The Pride flag raising at St. Petersburg City Hall will take place May 31, 9 a.m. The fifth annual Light Up with Pride is set for June 1. Various city buildings, museums, attractions, businesses and other landmarks will be lit in rainbow colors that evening. St. Pete Pride hosts events throughout the month, including its main events — some of the largest Pride festivals and parades in the country —June 20-22.