The rainbows are back on Duval Street in Key West, and ‘everybody is welcome’

Key West this week brightened four corners of famous Duval Street by turning the crosswalks into permanent rainbow flags.

The display honors the island’s mantra of acceptance when it comes to gender and sexuality.

Key West’s official motto is “One Human Family.”

“The rainbow crosswalks to us in the city of Key West mean everybody is welcome, everybody is equal,” Mayor Teri Johnston said. “Everybody is a part of Key West.”

But the crosswalks are also a great spot to take a selfie or group photo.

Many a family or band of friends have acted out the cover art of The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album on the rainbows.

The perfunctory ribbon-cutting ceremony turned into a wider celebration of joy for the LGBTQ community and its supporters in Key West.

In a coincidence that made many Key Westers smile, the rainbow paths were put down Monday at Duval and Petronia streets, the same day that produced a U.S. Supreme Court decision that employers may not fire workers because they are gay or transgender.

Even the ribbon Johnston snipped had a rainbow pattern.

The crosswalk concept isn’t new to Key West.

The rainbows were originally put down in 2015 at the request of the Key West Business Guild, which puts on LGBTQ events such as Pride and Womenfest. The Guild paid for it then.

This time around, the city plunked down the $3,700 for plastic pieces that were burned into the pavement on Monday.

The Southernmost City temporarily deleted the rainbow paths so it could pave most of Duval in a $1 million project started and finished during the time that the island was officially closed to tourists due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The rainbow crosswalks are truly a symbol of what Key West is all about: equality and acceptance,” said Kevin Theriault, executive director of the Key West Business Guild. “We are very fortunate to live in a community that strives to be one human family — truly welcoming to all people.”

This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 4:58 PM.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.