The late straight music icon is the latest victim of the GOP's LGBTQ+ animus.
Greg Owen at LGBTQ Nation:
“Political” road markings in Texas now include an ode to rock n’ roll legend Buddy Holly. At a city council meeting in Lubbock last week, David Bragg, interim director of public works, shared that his department will remove a hometown crosswalk tribute to the music icon that depicted Holly’s signature horn-rimmed glasses.
The decision comes in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s diktat compelling U.S. governors to keep roadways “free of distractions.” The anti-LGBTQ+ order, disguised as a “safety initiative”, stated, “Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork.”
The removal of rainbow Pride crosswalks, the unspoken target of the administration’s order, ties federal and state funding to compliance and has been bolstered by red-state governors’ complicity. “I don’t think it was intended to go after the Buddy Holly glasses,” the public works director said of the crosswalk crackdown. “Unfortunately, it did.” “Anything on the roadway would have to be eliminated,” he added. The four-sided crosswalk depicting four pairs of the iconic glasses was installed by the city in 2020 to celebrate Holly, born Charles Hardin Holley in 1936, the New York Times reports.
A Buddy Holly-themed crosswalk in Lubbock, Texas has been ordered to be removed as collateral damage in the GOP’s anti-LGBTQ+ animus-fueled removal of rainbow crosswalks on the false justification that painted crosswalks are “distracting” to drivers.
