BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Indivisible Lehigh Valley Bethlehem plans to hold a National Coming Out Day rally Oct. 11 outside Bethlehem City Hall. Participants will chalk rainbow crosswalks in response to officials removing painted ones in Orlando, Florida, and other cities.
The group calls the event “Joyful Resistance.” It will run from noon to 2 p.m. at Payrow Plaza and will feature speakers, music, community resource information, voter registration, petition signing, and chalking, the group announced.
The rally responds to a dispute over street art that reached the federal level last year. On July 1, 2025, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asked every governor to join a federal road-safety initiative and urged states to keep intersections and crosswalks free of distractions.
“Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,” Duffy said in announcing the initiative.
About seven weeks later, the Florida Department of Transportation painted over the rainbow crosswalk at the Pulse nightclub memorial in Orlando overnight. The crosswalk was installed in 2017, a year after 49 people were killed in a shooting at the club.
“The event is part of the response to the removal of rainbow crosswalks in Orlando and other cities — a troubling trend of erasing LGBTQ+ symbols from public spaces,” said Michelle Ritter-Santana of Indivisible Lehigh Valley Bethlehem. “This event is about more than chalk – it’s about visibility, unity and standing up against efforts to silence vulnerable communities.”
Participants will chalk rainbow crosswalks and artwork, then rally to send a message that LGBTQ+ people belong everywhere, the group said. The announcement does not specify where participants will draw the crosswalks.
Organizers held a similar rally at the plaza last year. That National Coming Out Day event was part of a national day of action called “We Will Not Be Erased,” and the Orlando removal prompted it. About 30 people attended, according to The Morning Call. Attendees chalked messages onto the plaza.
The group says communities across the country are joining this year’s day of action, but the announcement names no national organizer.
Organizers are setting up the voter registration table eight days before Oct. 19, the last day to register for Pennsylvania’s Nov. 3 general election.
Organizers will collect cleaning and laundry supplies, shelf-stable food, and pet supplies for the Care Cupboard at the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown.
National Coming Out Day has been observed on Oct. 11 since 1988.
Indivisible Lehigh Valley Bethlehem is a local chapter of Indivisible, a national grassroots volunteer organization founded in 2016. The chapter says it has 2,500 members and organizes meetings, protests, and letter-writing campaigns opposing the Trump administration’s agenda.
