Rainbow Crosswalks Removed in Texas: LGBTQ+ Community Outraged

Texas removes rainbow crosswalks, citing safety. LGBTQ+ community sees erasure. Protests erupt over 'political' markings policy and LGBTQ+ rights. Funding at risk.

Across multiple Republican-led states, similar rainbow-crosswalk-removal efforts reflect more comprehensive plan purposes. TheAdvocate has reported that authorities in Florida, complying with guidance from the U.S. Department of Transport, have started getting rid of rainbow crosswalks by asserting they position security risks or breach conventional road procedures. The LGBTQ+ community sights these relocations less as traffic-control decisions and even more as efforts to erase noticeable markers of their existence.

Protests Erupt Over Crosswalk Removal

Protesters demostrate during a Don’t Tinker Texas Rainbow on the corner of Westheimer Roadway and Taft Street in Houston stimulated by Texas Gov. Abbott threatening state funds if the city doesn’t eliminate the rainbow crosswalk on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

By 3:20 a.m., Houston Authorities’s Unique Reaction Team had fenced the demonstrators and provided three dispersal warnings. When no person relocated, policemans began making apprehensions– 3 in total, including protestor and city council prospect Ethan Hale, Chron reports.

Houston Removes Rainbow Crosswalk

Staffs and construction machinery work on the removal of a characteristic rainbow crosswalk in the modern Montrose area in Houston, Texas adhering to state and federal orders on October 20, 2025.

Christopher Wiggins is The Advocate’s elderly nationwide reporter in Washington, D.C., covering the crossway of public law and politics with LGBTQ+ lives, including The White House, U.S. Congress, Supreme Court, and federal agencies. He has actually written numerous cover story accounts for The Advocate’s print publication, profiling figures like Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride, long time LGBTQ+ ally Vice Head of state Kamala Harris, and ABC Greetings America Weekend break anchor Gio Benitez. Wiggins is dedicated to magnifying untold stories, particularly as the 2nd Trump management’s policies influence LGBTQ+ (and especially transgender) civil liberties, and can be gotten to at christopher.wiggins@equalpride.com or on BlueSky at cwnewser.bsky.social; whistleblowers can firmly call him on Signal at cwdc.98.

Christopher Wiggins is The Supporter’s elderly nationwide reporter in Washington, D.C., covering the junction of public policy and national politics with LGBTQ+ lives, consisting of The White Home, United State Congress, High Court, and federal companies. He has composed numerous cover tale accounts for The Advocate’s print publication, profiling numbers like Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride, long time LGBTQ+ ally Vice President Kamala Harris, and ABC Good Morning America Weekend support Gio Benitez. Wiggins is dedicated to amplifying unknown tales, especially as the 2nd Trump administration’s policies impact LGBTQ+ (and particularly transgender) legal rights, and can be gotten to at christopher.wiggins@equalpride.com or on BlueSky at cwnewser.bsky.social; whistleblowers can safely contact him on Signal at cwdc.98.

Soon after 2 a.m., city specialists got to the junction of Westheimer Roadway and Taft Street with a cold-planing equipment and a convoy of vehicles. They were fulfilled by a small team of protesters that had collected after hearing from local campaigning for groups that the crosswalk’s removal impended, ABC affiliate KHOU reports. Demonstrators sat on the rainbow red stripes, swung Pride flags, played guitar, and sang tracks by Radiohead and R.E.M. as Houston METRO and law enforcement agent blocked the intersection.

Background of the Rainbow Crosswalk

In the early hours of Monday morning, law enforcement officer and work crews came down on Houston’s Montrose community to get rid of a rainbow-painted crosswalk that had long stood as both a symbol of queer pride and a memorial to a young man killed at the junction, Chron records. The action, executed silently before dawn, followed an intensifying standoff over the future of LGBTQ+ exposure in public spaces across Texas.

Abbott’s Order Sparks Controversy

Christopher Wiggins is The Supporter’s senior nationwide reporter in Washington, D.C., covering the intersection of public plan and national politics with LGBTQ+ lives, consisting of The White Home, U.S. Congress, Supreme Court, and government companies. He has written numerous cover story accounts for The Advocate’s print publication, profiling numbers like Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride, longtime LGBTQ+ ally Vice President Kamala Harris, and ABC Good Early morning America Weekend break support Gio Benitez. Christopher Wiggins is The Advocate’s elderly nationwide reporter in Washington, D.C., covering the crossway of public policy and national politics with LGBTQ+ lives, consisting of The White House, United State Congress, Supreme Court, and federal companies. He has written several cover tale profiles for The Advocate’s print magazine, profiling numbers like Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride, longtime LGBTQ+ ally Vice Head of state Kamala Harris, and ABC Good Morning America Weekend support Gio Benitez.

The crosswalk, set up in 2017 after 21-year-old Alex Hillside was killed in a hit-and-run at the junction, had come to be both an area spots and a representation of Montrose’s deep LGBTQ+ background, according to the paper. City board participant Abbie Kamin said she found out late Sunday that the job would occur in the dead of night, calling the decision “disgraceful.”.

Texas Republican Politician Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent instruction to remove what he called “political or ideological” markings from public roadways has actually pressed Houston, and several Texas cities, right into dispute with state management. Under Abbott’s order, districts take the chance of shedding transportation funding if they maintain Pride-themed infrastructure, Chron records.