DeSantis Spokesperson Says LGBTQ Delight Lights on Jacksonville Bridge Will Be Again On – No Phrase on Others

A spokesman for the Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis says the LGBTQ Pride Month ad on Acosta Bridge in Jacksonville will be back Wednesday night. They were removed by the state’s Department of Transportation after just one night after dozens of other displays were not questioned.

DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske told Florida Politics: “The lights will be on”.

Fenske said FDOT “let go of it” adding that other lighting displays “opened that weren’t previously on the approved list,” referring to pre-existing approvals. However, the Pride display was the first to be blocked, a move that stirred up locals.

The LGBTQ community remains in the sights of DeSantis and its administration.

Permits to illuminate other Florida bridges, including Sarasota and St. Petersburg to celebrate Pride Month, have been denied, and there is no indication that they will be permitted as well.

The Acosta Bridge LGBTQ festival lighting removal order is “just the latest in a series of anti-LGBTQ campaigns” by DeSantis, Equality Florida communications manager Michael Womack told NCRM.

Womack says the Florida Department of Transportation is “answering the governor,” who signed Florida’s first anti-LGBTQ bill in 24 years. He also says that in 2020 approval was denied to illuminate the Acosta Bridge in LGBTQ rainbow colors for Pride Month.

It is no coincidence that the Florida governor, a likely 2024 presidential candidate, chose Jacksonville, a conservative Christian private school, and the first day of Pride Month to sign a law banning transgender girls from engaging in girls’ sports play.

“Girls will play girls’ sports,” DeSantis said on June 1. “Boys will play boys’ sports.”

DeSantis voted on June 2 to veto laws that would have provided funding for counseling survivors of the Pulse massacre and homeless LGBTQ youth.

“Let’s be clear what this is: Governor DeSantis has declared war on Florida’s LGBTQ community,” Pulse survivor Brandon Wolf, who now works for Equality Florida, told the Orlando Sentinel.

On Tuesday, the DOT ordered the removal of the Pride Light display, claiming there was no permit for the event. But the DOT has never had a problem with myriad other displays, including those featuring Memorial Day, Autism Acceptance and Awareness, St. Patrick’s Day, Lupus, First Day of Spring, Christmas, Child Abuse Awareness, and more Recognize Easter – to name a few.