🌈 Are 'Rainbow Crosswalks' Worth Fighting For? 🌈

QUEER WORD
RAINBOW CROSSWALK

What It Means:

On the face of it, it's a crosswalk that has been painted in rainbow colours, rather than the usual black and white. But symbolically, it represents visible queer presence in public space - a declaration that LGBTQ+ people exist here, live here, and belong here.

Let’s Use It In A Sentence:

I don't care how cute you think the photo is going to turn out, there's no way I'm recreating a Beatles album cover on this rainbow crosswalk.

Are Rainbow Crosswalks Worth Fighting For?

Okay, so you’ve probably already guessed from that rhetorical-but-also-not-at-all-rhetorical question of a title what my answer is going to be.

Yes, yes, they are worth fighting for.

Which is perhaps a little out of character for me. Ordinarily, I'm not really that fussed about these types of symbolic gestures. It's nice to have, sure, but it always feels largely performative (how about you give us equal rights instead of a few stripes of paint on the ground, eh?).

But things at the moment are different, right? We need all the visibility we can get.

Still, apparently even a bit of painted tarmac is too visible for some. And when I see article after article about people going to all the trouble of actively digging up a rainbow, I become less and less sure that they are nothing more than tokenism.

So instead of my usual cynical tirade, why don't we look at the history of the rainbow crosswalk, the arguments for and against their existence, and try to figure out what we actually lose if they no longer exist.

A Whistlestop History of the Rainbow Crosswalk

Of all the places in the world to debut the rainbow crosswalk, I'll bet you wouldn't guess Taipei, right?

But that's reportedly where the first crosswalk was slathered in rainbow colours, all the way back in 2008 when university students painted one as part of a gender equality campaign. And, though this wasn't a permanent fixture, it sparked an imagination or two across the world.

Skip ahead a few years and the first permanent rainbow crosswalks appeared in 2012 in West Hollywood, California, ahead of that year's Pride parade (and, amping up the fabulosity by approximately 374.8% they made sure to add a good handful of glitter to their paint).

When unveiled, the city's mayor summed up the sentiment behind the crosswalks pretty succinctly:

Then, just a year later in 2013, the idea of a rainbow crosswalk became less of a novelty and something more like a global movement.

You see, in Sydney, Australia, a rainbow crosswalk had been installed on Oxford Street (the main thoroughfare of Sydney's gay neighbourhood) to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade.

And though it was hugely popular, after Mardi Gras season was done it was hastily painted over (ostensibly over ‘safety concerns’).

Which led to activist James Brechney launching a DIY protest. He got out a humble box of chalk and re-coloured the crosswalk himself.

From here, a Facebook page, DIY Rainbow, was set up and within days people were posting photos of self-chalked crosswalks in their own cities - a viral act of solidarity and defiance.

And that, really, seems to be the story of the rainbow crosswalk in a nutshell: paint it, celebrate it, watch someone try to erase it, then fight like hell to get it back.

Arguments in Favour of the Rainbow Crosswalk

• The importance of visibility. We’ve touched on this already, but it can’t be undersold how important visibility is. Rainbow crosswalks are a daily, unavoidable reminder that queer people exist, live here, and belong here. And this isn’t just a welcoming symbol for queer folks, it’s equally important to remind non-queer folks that we exist and aren’t going anywhere. Our presence is ordinary, permanent and woven into the fabric of the city itself.

• Urban Art & Community Identity. They make things a little less drab. A little less same-sy. And, in creating unique moments of public art in an urban environment, the rainbow crosswalk also helps give an area its own identity, and feeling of community. 

• They spark a dialogue. Though rainbow crosswalks are the most well-known, their existence has inspired other communities to use crosswalk art for different causes – for example, trans flag crosswalks, Indigenous rainbow patterns, or Black Lives Matter street murals, all reinforcing this idea that streets can communicate identity and values.

  

• They make the roads safer? Ok, I’m as surprised at this one as you. But, apparently, there is emerging evidence that artistic crosswalks might slow traffic slightly, as drivers pay more attention when approaching an unusual, colourful road marking (one study in Florida found cars reduced speed by over 20% near colourful crosswalks).

Arguments Against the Rainbow Crosswalk

Let’s rattle through these, as I find most of them to be nothing more than thinly veiled queerphobia. Let’s see, there’s:

• Safety concerns (allegedly). Transportation officials love to trot this one out. The US Federal Highway Administration has repeatedly warned that non-standard crosswalks ‘reduce clarity’ and might confuse drivers. And, even though there is little to no evidence backing up these claims, they still threaten to withhold funding from cities that don't remove their rainbow crosswalks.

• Vandalism. Rainbow crosswalks get targeted. A lot. Burnout marks, paint dumped across the stripes, homophobic slurs scrawled in the middle of the night. As well as being traumatising for the community, each attack costs money to fix, and some cities aren’t prepared to take on the fight.

• "It's just performative." Some feel that rainbow crosswalks are nothing more than tokenism. An easy photo-op that for politicians and cities that want to look progressive without actually doing anything. Paint a crosswalk on Friday, vote against non-discrimination laws on Monday.

• It’s less safe for some. This is the one I'll actually give them. In the UK the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has raised concerns about greater risks for people with visual impairments, who typically rely on the contrast between the standard black and white stripes in order to safely navigate crossings. Other disability groups have said that people with dementia or learning disabilities may not recognise rainbow crosswalks as road crossings at all.

But there are solutions. For example, a rainbow crosswalk in France has the rainbow running alongside the standard black and white stripes, keeping the contrast intact while still making the statement. It's not an unsolvable problem.

So, back to that first question - are ‘rainbow crosswalks’ worth fighting for?

By now I know that I shouldn’t be surprised, but I’ve got to admit that I’m a little taken aback that some painted stripes on the ground are now firmly in the crosshairs of the culture war. But that’s where we are.

They’re not just trying to run our stories out of libraries and off of TV screens, they’re scrubbing the rainbows off the roads, the murals off the walls, the flags down from the lampposts. They’re erasing every shred of evidence that says we exist.

I know that sounds dramatic. And, it’s not the losing of the rainbow crosswalks themselves that gives me pause. It’s what they represent.

Every removal reinforces the idea that queer visibility is something indecent, that our mere existence is something children need to be protected from.

And, crucially, if we let them get away with this, what will they be coming for next?

But, I’m keen to hear what you think. Complete the poll below and tell me whether there’s a rainbow crosswalk in your city.