Milwaukee’s Rainbow Crosswalks Defy National Backlash
As cities nationwide move to erase street murals, Milwaukee has installed two new rainbow crosswalks in defiance.
The city of Milwaukee has installed rainbow crosswalks at the intersection of 2nd Street and National Avenue in the city’s traditionally LGBTQ neighborhood of Walker’s Point. It’s a move that stands in direct contrast to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s push to eliminate all street art from public roads.
The crosswalks, paired with rainbow-colored koi fish painted on nearby sidewalks by the popular LGBTQ venue LaCage NiteClub at 801 S. 2nd St., were designed by Jeremy Novy, a California-based street artist with deep Milwaukee ties.
The project was a joint effort between the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project and the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, created through the city’s “Paint the Pavement” program, which allows residents to showcase street art on crosswalks, sidewalks, residential streets, intersections, and curb extensions throughout Milwaukee.
According to Urban Milwaukee, the street art was created to celebrate the neighborhood’s pride and send a message of inclusiveness to the broader community. The project is also dedicated to Jim Dorn, a prominent leader in Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The crosswalks and Novy’s koi fish murals were entirely privately funded, with the LGBTQ History Project continuing to raise money via PayPal to maintain them. The project cost about $6,000, all covered through private donations.
The new artwork was unveiled on October 6 during a dedication ceremony featuring remarks from city leaders, including Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who said the installation honors Walker’s Point’s long history as a safe haven for LGBTQ individuals.
“By bringing the rainbows home, we’re honoring the past while embracing a future where everyone — and I mean that when I say every single person, everybody, everyone, no matter who they are and no matter who they love — feels seen, feels valued and feels safe, right here in this neighborhood and in our city,” Johnson said.
Michail Takach, of the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project, noted that the timing of the installation is significant, arriving as Duffy urges governors in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to erase or remove LGBTQ-themed crosswalks, claiming such designs distract drivers and cause accidents, and that “political messaging” has no place on public roads.
Some Republican-led states have already moved to comply with Duffy’s directive — most notably Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the state’s Department of Transportation to pave over several rainbow crosswalks, including one that memorialized the 49 victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando.
However, Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is unlikely to enforce Duffy’s directive. And if the Republican-controlled legislature attempts to restrict funding to cities that display such artwork, the fact that Milwaukee’s intersection is privately funded and maintained undercuts any argument that taxpayer dollars are being used to promote it.
“For some people, this is just a rainbow, for some people this is just a crosswalk,” Takach told the Journal Sentinel. “But the importance of this cannot be overstated right now.”
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