Pinellas Transit Authority withdraws pride bus wrap plans as Rep. Chaney calls out taxpayer funding

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority planned for two months worth of pride wrapping on public buses to celebrate Pride Month, until Rep. Linda Chaney, R-St. Petersburg, said taxpayer money “should not be used” for such a display.

Chaney told Florida’s Voice that during a meeting with Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority CEO Brad Miller and the transit authority’s lobbyist, she was informed that there were going to be two months worth of pride wraps displayed on public buses.

The representative shared on Facebook that when she learned the transit authority’s plan, she “immediately began discussions that ended with the PSTA withdrawing the plan.”

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority is a 93% taxpayer-funded service, according to Chaney.

“There will be No Pride wraps on tax payer-funded PSTA buses,” Chaney said. “Pride celebrations will continue as planned, but tax payers will not fund the promotion of it.”

Chaney told Florida’s Voice she first questioned why there would be two months worth of pride wrapping on the buses when Pride Month is only for the month of June.

She also pointed to recent transportation legislation signed by the governor in April, HB 1301, which outlines guidelines, prohibiting a public transit provider to use taxpayer funds for marketing or advertising activities.

According to the bill text, those include “any wrap, tinting, paint, or other medium displayed, attached, or affixed on a bus, commercial motor vehicle, or motor vehicle that is owned, leased, or operated by the public transit provider.”

“The fact that PSTA is 94% taxpayer subsidized, and staff obviously had to work on it, that puts taxpayer money behind this campaign and that’s not right,” Chaney said.

Chaney said Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority currently only has 1.5% of the population riding the bus. Six of the business’ routes comprise 60% of their ridership.

“They’re not doing a very good job with transportation,” Chaney said. “They don’t need to be promoting events, they need to be focused on transportation and doing a better job.”

Chaney said she thinks the public transit authority “might have realized” that much of their funding comes from the state and “this is probably not a hill they wanted to die on” following the meeting.

“There’s too many other issues,” Chaney said. “They should be focused on transportation and I have invited them to be my partner in doing that. I’m happy to work with them and help them do better, but they have to show that they’re interested in making changes that benefit the taxpayer.” 

Chaney said the person who “encouraged” her to publicly oppose the wrapping of the public buses on Facebook is a friend of hers who “happens to be part of the gay community.”

“The gay community does not agree with the LGBTQ aggressive agenda […] This is not about anti-gay, this is about responsibility to the taxpayer,” Chaney said.

This month, a pride mural was damaged by vehicles in two separate incidents in St. Petersburg.

Two different cars left tire marks damaging the Progressive Pride street mural located at 2500 Central Avenue, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department.

Police say the city will pay to repaint the mural, which is meant to highlight “the original St Pete gayborhood and the birthplace of St. Pete Pride in 2003.”

Florida’s Voice asked Chaney if she believes taxpayers should be paying for something like repairing the pride mural.

“In my opinion, taxpayer money should not be used on any kind of social messaging or special interest groups, that should be up to those individual groups,” Chaney said. “And I don’t think public money or assets should be involved in that.”

The police department believes the two incidents are unrelated, which occurred on May 17 and May 22.

The Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue recently announced that state bridges will be lit up red, white and blue from Memorial to Labor Day to celebrate America as part of Florida’s “Freedom Summer.”

A local media outlet recently came under fire for alleging the Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway Bridge “is going dark for Pride Month” in June.

Perdue noted the bridge will be red, white and blue. Gov. Ron DeSantis officials, including Christina Pushaw and press secretary Jeremy Redfern, celebrated online fact-checkers pointing out the reporting discrepancy.

The Skyway Bridge has previously been lit up in celebration of Pride Month and now the state will not be using taxpayer funds to do so.

Chaney called the state’s decision to change the lighting of the bridge to red, white, and blue throughout the summer “good leadership.”