The Swampscott Select Board held a hearing on the town’s rainbow crosswalks Wednesday, with residents speaking about the decision to repaint two Pride crosswalks in standard black and white. The board approved a policy to address ongoing concerns and establish guidelines for governmental speech at designated locations throughout town.

“It’s tough. Looking at the rainbow crosswalk and then looking at them in black is a gut punch for many people, me included,” said Select Board Vice Chair Danielle Leonard. “The other side of my brain also knows that is the standard way of painting a crosswalk.”

On October 9, residents were upset to discover that the Pride crosswalks at Burrill Street and Monument Avenue had been repainted in standard black and white. Swampscott’s Pride crosswalks were painted rainbow in June 2025, following a donation from Rebecca and Peter Spellios and support from the Select Board. The donation funded the installation of 10 Pride crosswalks throughout town

Select Board Member Mary Ellen Fletcher said the donation included a stipulation specifying which crosswalks were to be painted.

In a statement, the town said the work was part of “routine maintenance” and did not reflect any change in its “unyielding commitment to supporting and welcoming LGBTQIA+ residents, families and visitors.”

“The Town recognizes the significance these crosswalks have held for members of our community and appreciates the generosity and spirit behind their original installation,” the town had said in a statement to the Swampscott Tides. “We want to be clear that this routine maintenance work does not reflect any change in the Town’s unyielding commitment to supporting and welcoming our LGBTQIA+ residents, families, and visitors. Swampscott remains committed to being an inclusive and welcoming community for all.”

Town Administrator Nick Connors said during Wednesday’s meeting that the town is committed to being an inclusive community “that communicates better than we did for this.”

“We’re here to learn from the feelings and the ways this impacted you,” Connors said. “We are going to look at ourselves and make sure that we can do better.”

Town counsel suggested policy on Wednesday around expressing governmental speech to not open a forum or accept private individuals to put private messages on town property. There would be separate policies for flag poles, utility boxes, crosswalks and Town Hall Lawn. The policies would still allow private residents to express themselves on their own property.

“I would like these policies to long outlast the members on this board,” Phelan said.

The board voted to approve the policy, with a promise to readdress any edits next meeting. Fletcher abstained from voting since it was the first read of the policy.

History of the Crosswalks

Swampscott’s Pride crosswalks date back to 2019, when Department of Public Works employees took cans of paint to the asphalt, Select Board Chair Katie Phelan said Wednesday.

“As of right now, I have not located a Select Board policy or a vote addressing when those crosswalks were installed,” Phelan said.

Former Select Board Member David Grishman said that there was a conversation among the board in a meeting when the crosswalks were originally painted, noting that it was going to happen to support diversity and the LGBTQIA+ community.

Phelan said a resident who lives near the Monument Avenue crosswalk contacted the DPW with concerns shortly after its installation. Phelan and Leonard said they met with the abutter and brought the concerns to town staff.

According to Phelan and Connors, three Select Board members asked the town to look into crosswalk maintenance last year. Connors said he was briefed on the issue when he became town administrator and had determined that no action should be taken at the time.

The rainbow crosswalk near the library was also considered for maintenance, Phelan said, but construction delayed the work. The crosswalks near the schools were never considered, she added.

Residents Weigh In

Resident Mary DeChillo described the idea of a private citizen dictating public roadway designs as a “slippery slope” during Wednesday’s meeting. She also raised concerns about the safety of rainbow-painted crosswalks. She said there should be a separation of church and state.

Elaina Louisos-Kramer said she saw the importance of the crosswalks to many but also equated rainbow sidewalks to the issue of mangers on town property instead of a church “when the town should be including everybody.” She suggested keeping Monument Avenue a somber area and picking other spaces around town to have rainbow crosswalks.

Phelan said Wednesday that she “should have suggested that a public hearing was held” when the initial donation was made so that “these concerns were alleviated going forward.” 

“I do regret that we did not have a conversation to start,” Phelan said.

Leonard noted that “as much as I love rainbow crosswalks, not everyone in town does.” Select Board Member Wayne Spritz said a “lack of policy put us in the situation here,” adding that the town is trying now to “come up with a solid policy” and move forward “without isolating one community or the other.”

“For many, these sidewalks were more than just paint on a street,” S.U.R.E Diversity representative Sue Burgess said. “The lack of communication around this decision is concerning. Symbols that hold deep meaning for members of our community deserve transparency and dialogue.”

Hannah Lister said that the rainbow crosswalks meant she was accepted in Swampscott and that the painting “feels like it was directly attached to the LGBTQ community.”

“Right now we are under attack, especially the trans community,” Lister said. “Right now by doing this, you have escalated that…It was something that feels directed at us…This was absolutely the opposite of inclusion.”  

Melissa Weinand questioned whether the repainting could be considered routine maintenance, arguing that it involved “additional paint, additional labor, additional costs and somewhere along the way a decision to do it.”

Weinand and other residents offered to contribute money to restore the rainbow paint.

“Ultimately this isn’t about winning an argument over paint,” Weinand said. “It’s about deciding what kind of community you want to have after the argument is over.”

Joe Strothman, who launched a GoFundMe campaign that raised $3,275, discussed how neighboring communities, including Salem, approach their crosswalks.

“The town needs a better process in general of what is painted where,” Strothman said.

Rainbow Crosswalks and Traffic Regulations

The history of Pride marches dates back to 1970, the one year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising at a gay bar in Greenwich Village in New York City, according to the Library of Congress. 

The first permanent rainbow crosswalks were in West Hollywood as part of the 2012 Pride Month celebrations, according to HuffPost. Similar crossings then popped up throughout the world the following year, in cities like Sydney, Australia and Tel Aviv, Israel. 

Even as the colorful walkways have been widely adopted, they have been targets of defacement and vandalism. In 2011, the United States Federal Highway Administration suggested that “crosswalk art is actually contrary to the goal of increased safety and most likely could be a contributing factor to a false sense of security for both motorists and pedestrians.” Since, in the 11th edition of the US Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, bright colored crosswalks are discouraged but no longer prohibited. 

In May of 2025, Florida prohibited new installations of all aesthetic and non-standard crosswalk markings on the state highway system.

In Massachusetts, regulations distinguish between decorative pavement markings and those that function as traffic-control devices, which face stricter restrictions on permitted colors and uses.