A Florida lesbian couple is suing the city of Key West after officials threatened to fine them for painting part of their picket fence rainbow to protest the city’s removal of Pride crosswalks.
Nicole “Coley” Sohn and Linda Bagley-Sohn painted 12 pickets of the fence in rainbow colors after the city complied with Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) directive to eliminate the rainbow intersections. Their protest inspired others around the city to do the same, resulting in threats of a $250-per-day fine for anyone who did not return their fences to white, the only color allowed on wood fences by the Key West Historic Architectural Review Commission (HARC).
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The couple ultimately did repaint their fence white, as did most of the others, to avoid the fines. But with the help of the ACLU of Florida, they are now arguing that the city is guilty of “selectively enforcing its ordinance code against them, based on the content and viewpoint of their expression.”
“While the City eagerly enforced its Historic District regulations against Plaintiffs’ colorful protest, it has chosen not to cite noncompliant properties that express different messages,” the lawsuit states. “Indeed, numerous fences and other exterior structures in the Historic District are out of compliance with the same HARC Guidelines cited against Plaintiffs, but these other violations have not faced enforcement.”
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The suit also pointed out that “the only fence- and gate-color violations the City has cited in recent years have been Plaintiffs’ and their co-protestors’ rainbow displays.” The suit also provides a series of photographs to prove that numerous other homes violate HARC guidelines.
“No one should lose their right to speak out simply because those in power disagree with the message,” said Coley Sohn in a statement, “and the government can’t single out some views over others, deciding how to enforce its laws. That’s what the First Amendment protects us from.”
ACLU of Florida staff attorney Samantha Past added, “The forced removal of rainbow crosswalks and Pride-related street art across the state reveals the threat Florida leaders have unleashed on free expression. Allowing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric to escalate into censorship is an act of state overreach that should concern everyone. The Bagley-Sohn family have bravely and creatively protested the state’s attempt to erase LGBTQ+ identities and exercised their First Amendment rights on behalf of their community and the constitutional freedoms that protect us all.”
In July, DeSantis signed a law effectively banning all pavement art and murals like rainbow crosswalks, regardless of their political message, in collusion with Transportation Secretary and former Road Rules contestant Sean Duffy, who directed all state governors to keep intersections and crosswalks “free from distractions.”
Key West commissioners initially resisted DeSantis’ orders, but in September 2025, the City Commission voted 4-2 against taking the administration to court over the matter.
Both state and federal officials have justified the street art bans by claiming it is distracting to drivers. The data, however, supports the complete opposite.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies 2022 Asphalt Art Safety Study found that crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists drop 50% at painted intersections. It also reported a 25% decrease in conflicts between drivers and pedestrians, a 27% increase in drivers immediately yielding to pedestrians, and a 38% decrease in pedestrians crossing when the walk signal was not lit at intersections involving public art. The data also revealed that injuries resulting from crashes drop 37% in painted intersections.
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