Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor is facing backlash after ordering the removal of rainbow Pride and Trans Pride flag-colored crosswalks from a downtown intersection last month.

The Pride flag crosswalks, the first of their kind in Maryland, were painted in 2018 at the intersection of South Division Street and West and East Market Streets, near the Wicomico River and the city’s Riverwalk, as a symbol of support for LGBTQ inclusion.

More than 60 volunteers, most affiliated with the Salisbury chapter of PFLAG, came from across Maryland to help paint the designs. In the years since, PFLAG and local volunteers have repainted the crosswalk as part of Salisbury’s Pride Month celebrations.

But recent political shifts have pushed symbols of LGBTQ inclusion and identity out of favor.

Mayor Advocates for “Neutrality”

Taylor, a political conservative who won his 2023 three-way race by just 50 votes, first raised the idea of removing the crosswalks in May, arguing that the city needed to embrace “neutrality.”

“Our City is home to a diverse and vibrant community, and we want our public spaces to be welcoming to all,” Taylor said in a May 5 press release. “However, we also have a responsibility to ensure that government property remains neutral and does not promote any particular movement or cause. By moving forward with a neutral design, we are ensuring that city property remains a place where every individual, regardless of background or belief, feels they belong.”

As part of the announcement, Taylor launched what he called the “Crosswalk Canvas,” a biennial rotating initiative inviting local artists to design a new crosswalk for the city’s downtown that “embodies the character, history or artistic vibrancy of the City of Salisbury while steering clear of any political or ideological affiliations.”

Under the initiative’s terms, the selected artist would receive a $3,000 stipend and be required to paint the new crosswalk design by September 14, after which it would remain in place for up to two years before a new artist and design were chosen for the next round of “Crosswalk Canvas.”

Members of Salisbury’s LGBTQ community and their allies were angered by Taylor’s announcement. Many viewed the removal of the crosswalks as an attack on the city’s generally left-leaning values. They interpreted the mayor’s plan as signaling that open displays of LGBTQ visibility — and, by extension, LGBTQ people — would no longer be welcome or celebrated in the college town of 33,000.

“You don’t make things equal and fair by taking away from the underrepresented community,” Lisa Taylor, board president of Shore Pride Alliance, the renamed Salisbury chapter of PFLAG, told The Washington Post.

The Feds Weigh In

After receiving vocal opposition to his announcement, Taylor initially held off on painting over the rainbow and Pride flag crosswalks. But in July, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter urging states to review intersections and roadways and remove any street art, including rainbow flag designs, as part of a “Safe Roads” initiative.

“Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,” Duffy said at the time.

Duffy argued that such installations create “unsafe distractions” that could lead to crashes and traffic fatalities — despite studies suggesting otherwise.

Because Taylor didn’t immediately comply with Duffy’s request, some Salisbury residents assumed he was backing off his plans to repave the crosswalks. But on November 7, he issued a new statement saying he would move forward, citing both the need to follow federal guidance and his commitment to “maintaining neutrality in public spaces,” as reported by Salisbury-based ABC affiliate WMDT.

“It’s got nothing to do with how I feel about the LGBT community,” he said of the repaving effort. “It’s got to do with me doing my job as the mayor of Salisbury.”

Taylor told WMDT that his “Crosswalk Canvas” initiative wasn’t taken seriously and failed to “achieve the broad participation we had hoped for,” claiming that some design submissions were “unacceptable” while others echoed the messaging of the original crosswalks. As a result, he added, the crosswalks would be repainted with a “neutral design.”

Community Anger Swells

Three days later, during a contentious council meeting — in which council members clashed with Taylor on several issues beyond the crosswalks — the mayor was confronted over his plan to repave and repaint the South Division and Market Streets intersection.

“Stop it with al the criticisms. I’m on your team,” Taylor said, whacking the table in front of him as he glared at council members. “I’ve been here my whole life and I’m sick of it. You guys piling up on me like you’re superior. I don’t get it. Like I’m this bigot and racist or whatever. I’m sick of it. I’m not that person.”

A few minutes later, Council member Michele Gregory responded: “Mr. Mayor, if you don’t want to be called a bigot, don’t do bigoted things.”

The morning after the council meeting, on November 11, road crews began milling the crosswalks, which were completely paved over by 10 a.m.

Many residents weren’t ready to move on.

“My ultimate reaction to knowing that [the crosswalk is] gone is that I’m very tempted to pack my business up and move it,” Alfred Brewer, a Salisbury native who returned to the city with his husband to open a hair salon, told the The Washington Post.

Jonathan Franklin, who was a community college student in Salisbury when he helped repaint the crosswalk in 2023, told the Post he felt its presence made the community feel “safer” by signaling that LGBTQ people are part of the city’s fabric, while its removal sends the opposite message.

“It reflects something that they’re trying to do on a larger scale, trying to remove LGBTQ visibility,” he said, alluding to incidents across the nation where conservative mayors and governors have sought to eradicate symbols of LGBTQ identity to curry favor with the Trump administration.

Shore Pride Alliance responded to the crosswalks’ removal with an Instagram post saying the organization was “saddened” by the development but encouraged by the outpouring of support from allies, including city council members.

“We know that rainbow crosswalks have never been divisive, political, or exclusionary, something affirmed by empirical research that has found time and again that symbols of inclusivity are uniting and help counter marginalization,” the organization wrote. “In the end, we remain confident that love and inclusion cannot be truly erased and that the spirit of our crosswalk will persist until such time as it can be reinstalled.”