Talk:Rainbow crossing

Untitled

This example of internet activism is notable because it demonstrates how a geographically localised issue becomes international through internet activism and also due to its connection to a major event that has an international profile. It was reported extensively in the media in Australia and internationally, and the internet campaign spread around the world. Aliaretiree (talk) 23:45, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

I agree that this issue needs to be recorded in the encyclopedia but I would suggest that it is a reaction to the initial subject - the Rainbow Crossing itself. However, as is evidenced by the fact that that page is a redlink (at the time of writing) the "main" article for this topic does not yet exist but the movement that this article talks about does. I would recommend that:

• this page-title be moved to "Rainbow crossing" (which would also create a redirect from here)
• the article about the crossing itself, its creation and removal, be written
• and that the final section of that article be this article's text - about the DIY movement.

Following this there should be inbound links placed at articles like Taylor Square, Pedestrian crossing, Sydney Mardi Gras, and Rainbow flag (LGBT movement). A freely licensed photo of the original crossing (and even better - one of it being removed!) would be very important inclusions.

I'd also suggest that this section of the summer hill article should be merged into this article.

Sincerely, Wittylama 11:20, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

I have created a rainbow crosswalk section in the Rainbow flag (LGBT movement) article in the section on Rainbow colors as symbol of gay pride. I have also expanded the history section of this article to try to capture the relationship between the creation of the physical crossings and the community based internet activism movement that erupted when they were removed - which is the focus of this article. Aliaretiree (talk) 06:23, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

Need for a list

The history section just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I think it's time to make a proper wiki-list/table of Rainbow crossings worldwide. The way each one is listed in the history section is just too cumbersome. As it would require a massive overhaul of this page, I would like to get some sort of consensus before starting this project. Kire1975 (talk) 12:44, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

I just realized this is a part of the Wikiproject Australia. I just added half a dozen american ones and was about to add a Canadian one. Whereas, crossings in Taipei, Tel Aviv and West Hollywood were already listed, why is this considered exclusively an Australian phenomenon. There is a special history of the Australian protest movement that emerged as recorded on this page. I suppose the proposed worldwide list should have it's own separate page. Right? Kire1975 (talk) 12:49, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

No. The article isn't "Rainbow Crossings in Australia". It's just "DIY Rainbow Crossing" fullstop. The fact that we started it in Australia and have a rainbow crossing in Sydney doesn't exclude Americans from jumping on the bandwagon. It's all about inclusivity, baby! It's just the same as Movember and the Vivid Festival - they're good ideas so they have spread beyond our shores, and "the Rest Of The World" (eg America) has joined in with us. Add your contributions to the article; don't go and fragment the subjected matter elsewhere! 49.180.53.6 (talk) 23:50, 31 March 2021 (UTC)

Agreed, there are a lot of new permanent crosswalks and seemingly more being added every year, so this article should become more of a history and overview article as it stands now and I have now created a new main list article List of rainbow crossings with a start of some of the crosswalks that I could source that have been installed.

It's by no means complete yet, but it's a start and I will keep adding to it and invite others as well. Raladic (talk) 05:36, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

@Raladic Editors are piling on merge/delete votes for newly-created rainbow crossing articles. I think that's silly, but whatever, it seems there's limited interest in creating standalone entries at this time. The current table in this article is severely underdeveloped and a List of rainbow crossings would quickly become very large as there are probably thousands around the world. I was trying to find a happy medium, but of course I end up just giving up and moving on to other topics... ---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:08, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, the original List of rainbow crossings deletion discussion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of rainbow crossings was also pretty contentious since it is hard to create a cohesive limiting factor to no have it become a WP:NOTDIRECTORY, which I tried with the creating a definition for notable, but ultimately, the consensus at the time was to merge it into the article here where it lives since then (with the limiting criteria I helped define). Raladic (talk) 19:12, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

New crosswalks

Creating this section for new works to be added.

• Florida - Delray, Boynton (2021) and St. Petersburg (2020). Kire1975 (talk) 07:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

Thanks, I will add them to the new List of rainbow crossings list.

Do you know if there's pictures to them on Wikipedia already? Raladic (talk) 06:02, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

I've started Rainbow crossing (Delray Beach, Florida) and Rainbow crossing (Orlando, Florida). Crossings in Florida might be in the press more in the near future. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:58, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

@Kire1975 My attempts at expanding content about rainbow crossings is going absolutely nowhere, but perhaps you can weigh in below. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 20:57, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

Stonewall crossing?

I'm not an expert of the topic but I've just learned that there has been a rainbow crossing at least since 2019 at Stonewall Place in New York.

What's interesting is that Google Street View from 2017 already shows a rainbow crossing here. Hhgygy (talk) 15:56, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

San Francisco Crossing Notability

San Francisco is not the 2nd largest city in California (that is San Diego), it is the 4th largest, it is the 2nd largest in the Bay Area. This crossing is on Castro St in the Castro in San Francisco, I feel like we can come up with something true that is more notable than the 2nd largest city in California (no offense to San Diego who has a rainbow crossing of their own), or 4th largest. The Castro district is tied closely to LGBT history in the US, and hoping a notability blurb could be made that is accurate, and says more than SF being the 4th largest city in California JVittes (talk) 00:44, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

The first rainbow crossing

This may not fully count, yet a rainbow crossing was made in 1991 in Tel Aviv for a TV special of Hanoch Rosen. Maybe ok for the text, not for the table? gidonb (talk) 16:38, 5 July 2025 (UTC)

The article isn't about the very first time someone has drawn a rainbow on a street. I'm sure plenty of kids have done so for even longer than the TV special you linked. The article is about rainbow crossings as a symbol of the LGBTQ community - unless we have some RS that discusses that that rainbow in the TV clip you linked aligns with that somehow, but I assume it was created for artistic purposes or so in that case? Raladic (talk) 20:41, 5 July 2025 (UTC)

refs

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/08/15/rainbow-crosswalks-traffic-safety-florida/
• https://www.advocate.com/voices/duffy-trump-rainbow-crosswalks
• https://www.washingtonblade.com/2025/07/30/trump-duffy-declare-war-rainbow-crosswalks/
• https://www.wwnytv.com/2025/07/18/city-paints-over-pride-intersection-following-trump-administration-order/

--Another Believer _(Talk) 14:12, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

"This article is written in Australian English"

There's a template at the top of this page that says " This article is written in Australian English."

Is there a reason for this? This article does not seem specific to Australia.

---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:59, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

The page used to be about a specific crosswalk in Sydney Australia, and somehow became what it is now. Theoretically, it would take consensus to change what dialect standard is used when one has been established and there isn't a clearly native variety for the topic. It isn't really a problem, so why not? Australian English seems just as valid and appropriate as any other dialect of English for the page. I don't really see a need to change it. Do you? A change to Template:Ghanaian English would be admittedly kinda funny, so I could get on board with that. Ike Lek (talk) 19:41, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

"Notable permanent installations"

The section with the table is called "Notable permanent installations", but this is potentially confusing since "notable" has a specific meaning on Wikipedia. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:04, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

The reason for that name was basically that that was the compromise that I got to at the AfD of the List article to ensure it doesn't become one ginormous WP:NOTDICTIONARY list of every single rainbow crossing in the world.

So the criteria I defined is what helps keep that list manageable and that's why the section Rainbow crossing#Notable permanent installations table starts with explaining it: "The list below does not include all rainbow crossings in existence and is limited to those of notability, such as the first installation in a country, first installation in the largest cities of a state of large countries or otherwise notable beyond its mere existence." - so in this case, the word notable is used in the more pure English linguistic way of something has notability like the first in a country (and permanent being the enduring factor) and such (as those typically do get some news coverage), but it would likely not be enough for what we consider WP:NOTABILITY in Wiki-terms to warrant their own article. Since we're writing an encyclopedia for our readers first and editors second, and I don't think most average readers would be confused by this usage of the word with its meaning. As for editors, that is covered too as when you hit edit on the section, you'll be greeted by a very explicit editor notice with instruction.

<!--PLEASE INSERT NEW ENTRIES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER BY Date installed-->

<!--Please only include the first listing per country or major city, unless another installation is otherwise notable for a particular prominence. If a city has multiple crosswalks installed at once, pick one as a reference-->

<!--Note: Please cite sources when adding entries to this list; non-sourced entries will be removed-->

So I think we're about as well covered as we can be. But you're welcome to improve if you feel there's more needed, though given that it's worked pretty well for the past two years since I created it, not sure if there is a need for much. Raladic (talk) 19:19, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

@Raladic: I'm disappointed by the lack of interest in covering this topic on Wikipedia. There's pushback on standalone entries, pushback on U.S. state entries, pushback on a standalone list, etc. I don't see how redirecting so much information to this one page is a benefit to Wikipedia but (shrug) ---Another Believer _(Talk) 19:38, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

I hear you, I felt even the list article I had created was valuable rather than it being half of this current article, but alas, the current article is still only 50k at the moment, so maybe in the future if it grows, then a WP:SIZESPLIT will naturally move the list back out to where I created it originally. Raladic (talk) 20:16, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

@Raladic: OK, but right now a page like Rainbow crossings in California could potentially be deleted, as in not even merged. Does this info truly belong nowhere on the site? Makes no sense to me. How can we actually build out content on this topic in a way that's not just a wall of "no"? ---Another Believer _(Talk) 20:44, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

Another AfD

• Rainbow crossing (Toronto)

--Another Believer _(Talk) 20:59, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

Atlanta

The Atlanta one currently lacks a photo. I am frequently in the area, and will probably be in the next couple months, so I can get a photo of what it currently looks like, but it currently looks very different from how it did when it first got famous, which would be a better photo to include. If anyone has a photo of the classic look they would be willing to provide, I think that would be a lot more recognizable and representative of its notability in the context of the list. Ike Lek (talk) 19:28, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

Columbus, Ohio

• https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/08/federal-road-safety-study-interrupted-after-vandal-destroys-rainbow-crosswalk/

--Another Believer _(Talk) 15:31, 27 August 2025 (UTC)