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Rainbow lighting honoring Pride Month will return to Jacksonville, Florida's Acosta Bridge after the state's transportation department reversed course and turned off the rainbow colors Tuesday night.
The Florida Department of Transportation said the colors were shut off because they violated regulations and cited the Jacksonville Transportation Authority's lighting permit for the Acosta Bridge that requires state permission for a temporary color change from its normal blue. However, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske told The Florida Times-Union said she did not understand why the department shut the lights off.
"The bottom line is, (the rainbow) lights will be back," Fenske told the paper and said they would return Wednesday evening.
The lighting supporting gay rights was planned by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority to be lit for the entire week. The Acosta Bridge has been lit multiple times in celebrations of patriotic holidays and other reasons.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
The state-owned Acosta Bridge returned to its normal blue lighting Tuesday night.
Pride Month commemorates the struggle for gay rights. The state has allowed numerous celebratory lighting displays on the bridge to also celebrate the Jacksonville Jaguars football team and raise disease awareness.
It was the second time this month that the state rejected a rainbow lighting display for a bridge.
The state transportation department said on Tuesday that its original decision to shut off the rainbow lights was not motivated by anti-gay animus. It said the Jacksonville authority's permit for lighting the Acosta requires it to maintain a certain color scheme unless it receives state permission for a temporary change.
DeSantis, a Republican, was criticized last week when, on the first day of Pride Month, he signed a law banning transgender athletes from participating in school sports.
The state had earlier rejected Sarasota's request to light its John Ringling Causeway Bridge with rainbow lights this month despite also permitting other displays there. The governor's office did not immediately respond to a Wednesday email from AP asking whether that display will also now be allowed.
According to the state's bridge lighting policy, the transportation department can reject any temporary color scheme it deems offensive or not in the public's best interest. It also says special lighting displays should be limited to federal or state holidays or celebrations and "events of broad community interest and significance approved by local governments." Fenske said those policies will be reviewed.
The Times-Union reported that the Acosta Bridge is frequently lit in different color schemes. Last month, it was lit in teal to honor the Jaguars for drafting star quarterback Trevor Lawrence; green for mental health month; blue and green to raise awareness of neurofibromatoses, a neurological disorder that causes tumors; light blue for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the fatal condition commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease; purple for lupus awareness; and red, white and blue for Memorial Day.
