FEATURE: Rainbow Crossing

RAINBOW CROSSING

The City’s Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, and Councillor Rob Quintas, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, crossed the rainbow pedestrian crossing located along Somerset Road, between the intersections with Alfred Street and Dixon Street in Green Point

THE CITY OF CAPE TOWN MAKES HISTORY AGAIN, BEING THE FIRST CITY IN SOUTH AFRICA TO HAVE A RAINBOW PEDESTRIAN CROSSING - ENDORSING THE CITY’S SUPPORT FOR ITS LGBT+ COMMUNITY

Green Point in Cape Town is now the proud host of a pedestrian crossing in the rainbow colours, the worldwide symbol for the LGBTQIA+ community. This district has in the past been home to many, if not the majority, of the LGBTQIA+ social amenities in the Mother City as well as the annual Cape Town Pride Parade and Festival Mardi Gras. The crossing is also supplemented with a pink strip painted on the sidewalks which serves as a Pink Route to guide visitors and tourists through this iconic LGBTQIA+ neighbourhood and beyond.

The pedestrian crossing in the rainbow colours – red, orange, yellow, green, indigo and violet – is located along the busy Somerset Road, between the intersections with Alfred Street and Dixon Street in Green Point.

‘Cape Town is known for its vibrant LGBTQIA+ nightlife and community. We want all to feel welcome in our city where we embrace diversity and the addition of this bold pedestrian crossing to our road network will help spread this message. It also speaks to innovation in public spaces and support for public art that we’d like to foster,’ said the City’s Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis.

The pink lane, which has caused some controvery on social media, runs along Somerset Road, all the way from the intersection with Liddle Sreet, and then along Dixon, Waterkant, and Rose Streets, up to the intersection with Strand Street. painted on the sidewalk. This is a fun way for visitors to get to know the area and a great addition to our tourist offering soon before the peak holiday season. It is also intended to create awareness and celebrate Cape Town as an inclusive city.

‘This exciting ‘place maker’ precinct activator is the first of its kind in Cape Town, and is aimed at re-invigorating the buzz of the LGBTQIA+ district using road markings. There are many more spaces in the city that can be looked into in future and where heritage or unique attractions can be amplified by using sidewalks and pedestrian crossings. I’m calling on visitors and residents to look out for this crossing, and to follow the Pink Route as they explore this part of our city,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.

When the Rainbow Crossing was first unveiled, social media was buzzing, with supportive comments: 3 Fingers wrote, “Initially, when I saw this it put a huge smile on my face because it promotes progressiveness in inclusivity and diversity...”

Hayden Oosthuizen: “Love this!”

Tertia Alethea Fairbairn: “Love this!! Truly awesome!!”

Natalie Williams: “Moooove over zebras the proud rainbows are moving in on your space”

Linda Mayekiso said, “A great start, however those are not the inclusive colours. Were are the Trans colours? Where is the black and the brown? Can we start leading with INCLUSION!” Linda has a valid point, but imagine incorporating all the colours of the LGBTQIA+ acronym in one zebra crossing ... just wondering ...

And then, of course we had the detractors ... Jennifer Davies Willis asked, “Who paid for this?” - Really! Seriously, a few tins of paint!

The religious haters, of course crawled out - Colbern Heaton: “I kinda think it is a big FU to God, coz that isn’t the rainbow of God’s promise in fact its celebrating everything God despises. Remember Sodom & Gomora ....” - sad. That other little quote from the good book comes to mind ... something about “Judge not ....”

Wayne Feldman: “That roadmarkings (sic) is not in accordance with the law?? Turn capetown into a circus....... (sic)” - boring.

The City in its press statement did assure the likes of Wayne, because there’s always at least one, that “the paint used for the pedestrian crossing and Pink Route complies with the SANS standards for road markings.”

Chet Gordon-Povey, lamented, from Paris, France, on the fact that the “gay village” is no more, commenting, “I understand the symbolism and location but sadly all bars nightclubs and restaurants are NOT there anymore. What happened to Crew Bar???? What happened to Amsterdam Bar??? What happened to HOT House???? What happened to the bar next door to Amsterdam bar ??? What happened to the lesbian dance bar on Somerset Road??? And the list goes on and on.....oh what happened to the bar opposite Manhattan???? What happened to Bronx, Angels and Detour???! Nothing replaced all these iconic spots in de Waterkant!!!!!!!!!!! Sydney and here in Paris we have these crossings but it’s in the thriving spots of the gay districts....sorry Cape Town it’s pretty but it’s 5 years too late, nothing happening there just Cafe Manhattan and that’s very straight friendly at best. Ohhhh I left out Beefcakes, a hen party treasure now.”

Chet is right, but high rents, online pick-up sights and what seems to be a general apathy, amongst a host of other reasons, I guess, have killed De Waterkant as a “Gay” district, but it’s great to have the visibility, and acknowledgement that the queer community are a valuable part of the social demographic of our diverse city.

Rainbow crossings are a feature in many major LGBTQIA+ friendly cities around the world, and Cape Town Pride welcomes this addition to Cape Town’s urban landscape, a project that was started by Cllr Ian McMahon some years ago.

Cape Town Pride have already adopted the crossing as the official start point of the Pride Parade on the 4th March 2023 ... Pride supports LGBTQIA+ visibility in the city, and looks forward to the creation of more.