florida ripped up miami beach's rainbow crosswalk. a drag queen bought 50 of the bricks and is selling them to fund pride. iconic behavior.

via CBS News Miami and Hoodline

Florida spent last fall prying a rainbow out of the street. A drag queen is now selling it back to us, one brick at a time.

Eric Swanson, who performs as Miss Bouvee, won 50 of the bricks from Miami Beach's old rainbow crosswalk at auction, CBS News Miami reported on Wednesday, and is reselling them to benefit Pride groups in Key West and Naples. Donations start at $250 a brick. His goal is $15,000, and CBS says he is already past halfway. Hoodline, citing auction records, says the city listed lots of the salvaged 4-by-12-inch pavers through a government surplus auction site in July and September.

"A lot of people just want a piece of our history," Swanson told CBS. "It's something tactile. It's not just living it, you can hold it."

The money pays for the parts of Pride corporate sponsors skip. "In Key West, this is actually financing the live performance stage," he said. "This is keeping locals employed during Pride."

how the bricks got loose

The crosswalk sat at 12th Street and Ocean Drive from 2018 until October 2025, when Florida Department of Transportation crews tore it up two days after the city lost its appeal of a state order, the AP reported. By the next morning it was asphalt. The city kept the pavers and in April rebuilt the rainbow as a sidewalk on city, not state, property near Lummus Park. CBS says the leftovers went to auction, which is how a set of state-condemned street markings ended up in a drag queen's inventory.

"You can't erase us," Swanson told CBS. "We are important; we are voters in this state."

The state removed the crosswalk to make a point. It is now paying for a drag stage in Key West. Somebody in Tallahassee should check the receipts.