Midtown Atlanta’s rainbow crosswalks — long a symbol of support for the LGBTQ+ community — just got an even more colorful update.
What was previously a six-hue rainbow design now has black and brown stripes to represent communities of color and the white, pink and blue stripes of the transgender flag. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens called the crosswalk “a powerful symbol of love, of unity, and of acceptance.”
“When we learned that the original installation was reaching its life expectancy, we knew that it was a perfect time to enhance and make it even more inclusive,” Dickens said at Sunday’s unveiling.
The new look comes just in time for the 54th Atlanta Pride Festival, which takes place this Saturday and Sunday.
Steven Igarashi-Ball, the director of communications and community engagement for Atlanta Pride, said the crosswalks’ unveiling aligns perfectly with this year’s theme: United with Pride.
“The crosswalk is an embodiment and a really visible symbol of what that theme means,” he said. “To have such a strong, visible symbol about unity and visibility and representation is really important.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The original crosswalks featured the rainbow pride flag with six colors and were installed in 2017. The installation cost the city an estimated $196,000 at the time, and it was expected to last 10 years.
Seven years later, high traffic volume, vandalism and subsequent pressure-washing has taken its toll, according to the city’s department of transportation. The city’s cost to paint the new stripes totaled $52,500.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
The Sunday parade will go through the colorful intersection at 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue in a neighborhood known for its historic LGBTQ+ roots, Igarashi-Ball said.
“That corner where the crosswalks are is especially historic, iconic,” Igarashi-Ball said. “It has always been a gathering place for our community. Some people call that the ‘gayborhood’, and it has just always represented safe space and visibility.”
Atlanta Pride is the largest free pride festival in the U.S., he said, a sign of the strength of the city’s LGBTQ+ community. The nonprofit largely relies on community support to put on the festival, most of which takes place in Piedmont Park.
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