An emergency city meeting is set for Wednesday evening in the South Florida city of Fort Lauderdale as a battle to save so-called rainbow crosswalks from being sandblasted or painted over enters the 11th hour with removal deadlines looming.
Communities across Florida are being ordered to remove them by early next month by the state, which is threatening to withhold millions of dollars in state funding if the cities don’t comply. Many of the brightly colored street crossings are meant to celebrate gay rights and LGBTQ pride, while others are tributes to Black people and police.
Miami Beach has been given a Sept. 4 deadline to remove its rainbow crosswalk on Ocean Drive — a deadline similar to those given to communities across Florida…