Atlanta Rainbow Crosswalks

Beautiful, vivid rainbow stripes stretch across an intersection of Atlanta’s Piedmont Avenue. The unusually colorful crosswalks form a bright square within a neighborhood at the epicenter of the city’s LGBTQ community.

The rainbow crosswalks were installed in 2017. The city’s mayor announced plans to give the streets their colorful stripes in June of 2017 to mark the one-year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. It’s a bright, colorful way to commemorate a dark day in America’s history.

Temporary rainbow crosswalks first appeared in 2015 during Atlanta’s pride festivities, but they were erased within weeks. More than 20,000 people signed a petition created by activist Sarah Rose to make them a permanent fixture. Two years later, their wishes came true.

The colorful memorial is meant as a symbol of unity and acceptance. It both honors the tragedy of the Pulse shooting and playfully marks the Piedmont area as the hub for Atlanta’s LGBTQ culture.