Hacked Traffic Sign in Florida Read 'Kill All Gays'

Police investigating message shown hours before laws were signed targeting transgender care
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted May 19, 2023 9:15 AM CDT

On a day meant to highlight discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, a traffic sign in Orlando broadcast a clear example: "Kill all gays." The hateful message in bright orange capital letters was shown in the area of Lake Nona Medical City early Wednesday on a digital traffic sign, which had been warning drivers about possible delays as a result of a weekend fun run, per WOFL. The message was "immediately taken down" and the sign removed, a city rep tells the Washington Post. Police, who were notified shortly before 4am, are now trying to determine those responsible for tampering with the sign, per the Orlando Sentinel.

Mayor Buddy Dyer condemned it as a "disgusting display." "To Orlando’s LGBTQ+ residents and visitors: you are respected and valued here," he tweeted. "And we won't be deterred in our efforts to ensure that our city is inclusive for all." The message was especially painful as it arrived in a city "where a gunman killed 49 people inside a popular gay bar in 2016" and on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, which is recognized by dozens of human rights organizations, per the Post.

Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis chose this day to sign into law a package of bills that imposes new restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors and adults, "makes it a crime to admit minors to drag performances; and bans trans people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity in schools, prisons or public buildings," per the Post. Under the new law, gender-affirming care for minors is akin to child abuse, meaning a child found to have received such care can be taken from their parents, CNN reports.

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DeSantis said "Florida is proud to lead the way in standing up for our children ... as the world goes mad." State Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, a Democrat representing parts of Orlando, countered that Wednesday's incident is a reminder that attacks on the LGBTQ+ community "are only getting worse, and our governor is allowing this pattern to continue." She tells the Post that the individuals responsible for altering the sign "are affirmed and empowered by the policies around them, and by the elected officials around them who echo that same sentiment, whether they say it as bluntly or not." (More Florida stories.)

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