Background
When Equal Visibility Everywhere founder Dr. Lynette Long applied for a Nyad Marker in 2017, she intended it primarily to honor Diana Nyad’s 2013 Cuba-Florida crossing; the first two-thirds of the original marker text addressed the Cuba swim.
However, the Florida State Historical Marker Program has a regulation that states
No individual may be mentioned in a marker text until thirty years after the death of said person or thirty years after the significant event with which that person is associated . . .[1]
So, Dr. Long began changing the text to sidestep the 30-year rule. For example, the original text began: “On September 2, 2013, at the age of sixty four, Diana Nyad staggered onto Smathers Beach in Key West, Florida.” The text the Marker Council finally approved in 2018 begins: “As a child growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Diana Nyad was a champion pool swimmer.” Continue reading →