By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A rainbow crosswalk at the Jesup Road/Taylor Place intersection will become a permanent feature this summer, a physical sign of support for the LGBTQ community.

The downtown crosswalk — a temporary version was installed at the beginning of June to mark the start of Pride month — will be financed by private donations and maintained by the town, according to Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich.

Brian McGunagle, the founder of Westport Pride, requested approval from the Board of Selectwomen on Wednesday for the temporary multi-colored crosswalk to be transformed into a permanent installation.

The rainbow first became a symbol of the gay pride movement in 1978 when a multi-colored flag was flown in San Francisco when Harvey Milk, a San Francisco city supervisor, wanted to create a lasting symbol of the movement, according to the Anti-Defamation League website.

Since the temporary crosswalk was installed June 1, its materials already have begun to deteriorate, Ratkiewich, reported.

“It was a good experiment,” he said, but it is clear “that it wouldn’t last for a year.” Some of the colorful material has disintegrated or been torn off because of weather and traffic.

The permanent crosswalk will be made with different material that is embedded into the pavement, resulting in a rainbow design with an estimated life of 10 years before it has to be redone, Ratkiewich said.

“The town is best suited to take over the maintenance after the first installation,” he said, and likely to pay for refreshing the crosswalk in the future.

A package for contractors to bid on installing the crosswalk will be advertised, but only two contractors in the area do that kind of work, Ratkiewich said, so it may take a few months before the project is complete.

“I am just so pleased that the crosswalk was met with such enthusiasm in the community,” First Selectwomen Jennifer Tooker said before the board voted unanimously to approve permanent installation of the rainbow crosswalk.

A petition — “Stop them from removing the rainbow crosswalk” — posted online June 18 had collected 1,150 signatures in support of the effort as of Wednesday.

“I think it is a great addition to downtown,” Tooker said.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.