The mayor of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre Benoît Cerexhe criticised the Region of Brussels-Capital’s decision to paint zebra crossings with the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag in his municipality in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Cerexhe went on Facebook to criticise the Brussels government on Saturday after noticing the overnight change to a crossing on the Montgomery roundabout.
He explained that his opposition had nothing to do with the rainbow flag being used for the Belgian Pride month in Brussels but rather that he did not believe that zebra crossings, with their primary purpose of providing pedestrians with safety, should be used to “support causes” of any kind. Cerexhe also argued that the crossings would now no longer be fully visible to the visually impaired.
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Moreover, he revealed that he had made his opposition known to the planned changes in January but that the Regional government had “unacceptably” persisted in painting them anyways.
“I had hoped that the Brussels government, after many years, would have understood that there are ways to do things in politics,” Cerexhe lamented. The mayor continued by stating that his request to make two tram stops in his municipality more accessible has thus far gone unanswered, while the painting of the crossing was done during the night with a limited team.
In response to the mayor’s anger, Brussels’ Mobility Minister Elke Van Den Brandt stated that “I'm not going to compromise on inclusivity in our city.” She added that the rainbows were added in honour of the Belgian Pride month “as they are every year” and promised to “continue to do so”.
