Cincinnati, Ohio has unveiled a rainbow
crosswalk near the street honoring marriage equality icons John
Arthur and Jim Obergefell.
According to The
Cincinnati Enquirer, the crosswalk was unveiled on Tuesday.
It is located two blocks south of Mercer Street, which has the
honorary designation of John Arthur and Jim Obegerfell Way, in the
Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.
Cincinnati joins nearly 100 U.S. cities
with LGBT-related crosswalks.
Chris Seelbach, Cincinnati's first
openly gay council member, proposed the crosswalk. Its $8,000 cost
was covered by an anonymous donor.
“It has been incredibly important
that, internally, we set policies and laws to ensure every person is
welcome and valued in our city,” Seelbach said. “Today, we are
celebrating those achievements externally [with] this physical
display, welcoming all to our city.”
Obergefell was the lead plaintiff in
the Supreme Court case that struck down state bans excluding gay and
lesbian couples from marriage. Obergefell and his husband John
Arthur challenged Ohio's voter-approved constitutional amendment that
defined marriage as a heterosexual union after the state refused to
recognize their Maryland marriage. The couple married on the tarmac
of a Baltimore airport. Arthur died from ALS in 2013, but Obergefell
continued their case.