Orlando officials on Thursday condemned the state’s overnight removal of a rainbow crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub, a commemoration of the 49 people killed at the LGBTQ-friendly nightclub in 2016. CNN's Boris Sanchez speaks with Brandon Wolf, a Pulse Nightclub shooting survivor. #CNN #News
00:00A crosswalk controversy is unfolding in Orlando, Florida.
00:04That's where on Sunday, Sunshine State troopers were seen keeping watch as people used chalk to color in a memorial crosswalk outside Pulse nightclub.
00:14This comes after state-directed crews painted over the rainbow stripes that honor the 49 people killed during that 2016 mass shooting at the LGBTQ-friendly nightclub.
00:24Our next guest, Brandon Wolf, survived the shooting but lost some of his best friends in the attack.
00:29He's now national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ plus civil rights group.
00:36Brandon, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.
00:39I wonder what your reaction is to the removal of the rainbow crosswalk.
00:46Yeah, thanks for having me. I want to put all of this in context.
00:50This is not just about paint on the ground. This is a memorial to the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since 9-11.
00:58It's a memorial to 49 mostly LGBTQ plus people of color who were gunned down when they were out for a drink with their friends.
01:06It's a memorial to the hundreds of us who escaped the club barely with our lives that night.
01:11It's a memorial to a community that has been torn apart.
01:14It is a state-approved, by the way, memorial approved by then-Governor Rick Scott that was visited by this governor, Ron DeSantis, in 2019.
01:22It is very meaningful to this community. When I'm in that space, it's when I feel closest to the people that were stolen from me.
01:29It's when I think about how they laughed, how they smiled, when I remember the last words that we got to speak to each other before it was clear that they were not coming home to say goodbye.
01:39So it is, I think, an absolute disgrace for the governor and, yes, for President Donald Trump to desecrate those memories by rolling in in the middle of the night under the cover of darkness like cowards and painting it over with black paint.
01:54But I just have to also say that the response has been really inspiring, and that's the Orlando community I know.
02:01That's the LGBTQ plus community I know, and I'm cheering them on from Washington.
02:05I do want to ask you more about that response, but I am curious regarding the intent here on behalf of Governor DeSantis.
02:13As you noted, it was a Republican governor turned senator that saw all of the response to Pulse in Rick Scott, and then DeSantis visited the memorial back in 2019.
02:25When asked about a local state senator, Carlos G. Smith, who spoke out against the removal, DeSantis wrote this, quote,
02:34We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes.
02:39Why is the crosswalk, do you think, in the eyes of the governor, a political statement?
02:44Well, first of all, give me a break.
02:49This is the governor that named a road in Florida after Rush Limbaugh.
02:53So I'm not taking the thought process here with much more than a grain of salt from the man who literally names roads after political commentators.
03:03But to your bigger question, it is not political to memorialize people who had their lives stolen.
03:10It's not political to put up a message that that we will not let hate win.
03:14It's not political for us to honor the people that we love and lost.
03:19It's not political as it would not be political in any other community to memorialize one of the deadliest terror attacks in this nation's history.
03:27None of that has to be political.
03:29The only person making it political is Governor Ron DeSantis, is President Donald Trump, are the people who are rolling state troopers out in large numbers to babysit a crosswalk because they want to score clicks online, because, I don't know, they want to own the libs in this moment.
03:47There is nothing political about saying that we loved and lost and that we will continue to stand together to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
03:54The only person making that political right now is Governor Ron DeSantis.
03:57You posted this picture of folks using chalk to recreate the Rainbow Crosswalk, and you spoke about the emotion that this elicited in you.
04:07I wonder if there are steps the Orlando community can take to negate the governor's actions here.
04:16I mean, if this is a local road, doesn't the city determine what goes on that road?
04:22Yeah, I think that's a really helpful question to ask.
04:28I will say that, you know, I'm in part inspired because people are not just responding to the crosswalk being torn up, although it is a deeply emotional thing for them.
04:38They're also responding to years of onslaught from Governor DeSantis.
04:41This is a man who's made it his entire personality to terrorize LGBTQ plus people.
04:46He's made it his political identity. So in that chalk, they are also saying that you can't erase us with one bucket of paint or one law or one executive order or one tweet.
04:57I think in terms of what happens next, one, the Orlando community is coming together.
05:01I've seen local business leaders allowing people to paint parking spaces in their parking lots or sidewalks outside of their businesses.
05:08I think you'll see people continue to come together.
05:11And it is my understanding that the city is looking at all the options to push back against the state.
05:16Remember, they were also caught off guard because they were in active conversation with the Department of Transportation about being able to keep this crosswalk rainbow.
05:24So I think you'll see, you know, Mayor Buddy Dyer, I think you'll see the entire city commission look for whatever options they have to push back against this overreach from the governor
05:33to send those state troopers home, to put the rainbow back where it belongs and get back to the business of memorializing the 49 people who had their lives stolen at Pulse.
05:42And on that last note about remembering those folks, before we go, Brandon, I wanted you to tell us about the friends that you lost at Pulse.
05:51It's hard to believe that it's been almost 10 years.
05:53Yeah, it feels both like yesterday and a lifetime ago at the same time.
06:00My best friends, Drew and Juan, were the best of us.
06:03I moved to Orlando from rural Oregon because I wanted to find some place where I could be fully and authentically myself.
06:10And I found that for perhaps the first time in friendship with Drew and Juan.
06:15They, you know, like to laugh.
06:16They liked music.
06:17They loved Eurovision.
06:18We went on vacations together.
06:20And the last words we got to speak to each other were, I wish we said, I love you more often.
06:25As I mentioned, I hold that so close.
06:27And I feel it especially close when I'm at the Pulse memorial site.
06:31That's why that space means so much to me.
06:33It means so much to other people.
06:35And it's why you'll see people continuing to fight to ensure that we never, ever, ever forget those who were stolen from us.
06:41Brandon Wolf, thank you so much for joining us and for sharing your friends' stories.
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