A campaign is underway to stop a rainbow-coloured Pride tower from being removed from the sands of Venice Beach, California.
The LGBT+ public art project was unveiled during Pride celebrations in June but is due to be removed on September 8—painted back to its original pale blue colour.
Actor and activist Colin Campbell has started a Change.org petition, urging the LA County Board of Supervisors to make the installation a permanent fixture.
“On September 8th the rainbow-colored tower is set to be erased... forever,” the petition reads.
“At a time when so much of what the LGBT community and its allies fought for is under attack, the LA County Board of Supervisors should save the Venice Pride Flag Lifeguard Tower by designating it a permanent public art project.”
Campbell says the colourful tower has attracted thousands of tourists in the past few months and broadcasts a “powerful message of equality and inclusion to millions across the globe”.
“The tower serves as an important visual reminder that Los Angeles will always welcome people no matter whether they are gay, straight, lesbian, bi, transgender, queer or questioning.”
According to the LA Weekly, the campaign has garnered support from elected officials, including Mike Bonin—the first openly gay man elected to the LA City Council.
"Hell, yes," he wrote to the LA Weekly via email.
"I enthusiastically support the grassroots campaign and county efforts to make the pride-coloured lifeguard tower at Brooks Avenue in Venice permanent.
“The colourful lifeguard tower is an awesome celebration of inclusivity and LGBT pride, and I would love to see 'the most Instagramable lifeguard tower in the world' become a permanent part of our Venice neighbourhood.”
With just under a month until the September 8 deadline, the petition is still a few hundred signatures short of its goal of 7,500.
Campbell has put together a video to raise support for the campaign. The activist has created a photo montage of people posing with the rainbow tower—to the soundtrack of the Village People’s YMCA.
