23-05-2025
Pride lights, and most other colors, no longer allowed on Florida bridges
No matter what the cause or its associated color, lighting a state bridge to recognize it is now against Florida policy — with, of course, a big patriotic exception.
In a policy quietly adopted in February and playing out around the state this Memorial Day weekend, the Florida Department of Transportation says lighting on state-managed bridges 'shall be a default scheme of red, white and blue' and 'limited to the recognition, commemoration and or promotion of government holidays.'
It effectively makes a standard practice out of the 'Freedom Summer' lighting rule declared by FDOT last year. And it squelches, without express state permission, options such as rainbow colors for LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June, or even orange for National Gun Violence Awareness Month, also in June, or red in September for Sickle Cell Awareness Month.
Recent history suggests that special permission for some causes would be tough to get. Last year's freedom summer declaration came about after the state overruled a practice in Tampa of deploying rainbow lighting during Pride Month. For three years the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay had sported such lighting, but in 2024 a Manatee County Commissioner objected.
In prior years, creative bridge lighting had been fairly common in some locales.
In 2016 the Central Florida Expressway Authority lit up the Lake Underhill Bridge on State Road 408 in Orlando with rainbow colors after the June 16 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub.
CFX — created by the state in 2014 — said by email that it follows the city of Orlando's specialty lighting schedule. However, the city has no bridges or roads that it lights up in color for special occasions.
Orlando does illuminate the Lake Eola fountain, City Hall and public art displays. The city's specialty lighting schedule includes red, white and blue illumination for Memorial Day. Orlando also used specials colors for other occasions such as red on Nurse's Day (May 6) and pink, purple and yellow on Mothers Day (May 12).
Tatiana Quiroga, executive director of Come out with Pride Orlando which is behind the city's LGTBQ + parade and the region's biggest celebration, said her organization has never made any special lighting requests of the state. Quiroga said the city uses rainbow lights at the Lake Eola fountain for the Pride celebration.
She said Orange County and the city have a long history of supporting Pride.
'We have a great relationship with the city but it speaks volumes that we don't have one with the state,' Quiroga said. 'It illustrates a lack of support from the state for LGBTQ.
'They don't support pride but also what happens to the breast cancer community who want pink lights or showing support for the immigrant community or the Black community?' she asked.
The holidays stipulated by the state are New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
The state has approved at least one exception to its policy so far: In the city of Sarasota, the community requested aqua blue as the default color on the Ringling Bridge when it isn't lit up in red, white and blue for the holidays observed by the state. With permission, those colors lit up the bridge earlier this month.
FDOT said the policy is part of the Salute to America 250 Task Force, a group created by President Donald Trump that's planning a full year of festivities starting Memorial Day and running through July 4, 2026 — when the U.S. celebrates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed.
In a post on X, FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue said state bridges and highways will be lit with red, white and blue beginning Friday through 2026 'in commemoration of #America250.'
'Doing so reinforces how lucky we are to live in the Free State of Florida, USA,' Perdue said in the post.
The Tampa Bay Times contributed to this report
