A digital traffic sign in Orlando broadcast an anti-gay message of hate on Wednesday morning. The Orlando Police Department is investigating.
The sign, which was located at the intersection of Lake Nona Boulevard and Nemours Parkway to the southeast of the city’s airport, read “KILL ALL GAYS” and was reported to Orlando police shortly before 4 am.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that police believe the sign was tampered with.
In a statement, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said that LGBTQ+ residents and “respected and valued” in the city and that the city “won’t be deterred in our efforts to ensure that our city is inclusive for all.”
“Hate has no place in Orlando and this disgusting display is not who we are as a community,” Mr Dyer said.
Orlando was the site of the deadliest attack against LGBTQ+ people in US history in 2016 when a 29-year-old man killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse. The attack, which traumatised the city, remains the second-deadliest mass shooting in US history.
More recently, the state of Florida as a whole has targeted members of the LGBTQ+ community with a range of laws banning gender-affirming medical care for minors and forbidding discussions of gender and sexuality in some public school classrooms.
The situation has intensified to the point that the LGBTQ+ civil rights group Equality Florida last month issued a travel advisory for LGBTQ+ travellers warning them about the risks of visiting the state.
According to an Equality Florida press release, the decision to issue the advisory came “in response to a wave of safety inquiries Equality Florida has received following the passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws, foment racial prejudice, and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum.”
Orlando police have requested that anyone with knowledge about the sign incident contact them.
