Utah Legislature bans pride flags from schools, public buildings

Yahoo

07-03-2025

(Getty Images)
The Utah Legislature has passed a bill aimed at banning LGBTQ+ flags from Utah's public schools and government buildings in the name of 'neutrality.'
After a fiery debate Thursday — the second-to-last day of the Utah Legislature's 2025 session — the Utah Senate voted 21-8 to approve the bill, with two Republicans (Sens. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, and Dan Thatcher, R-West Valley) joining Democrats in opposition. The House also gave a final nod of approval, 53-20.
If Gov. Spencer Cox signs HB77, it will ban almost all flags from being displayed on or in public buildings, except for flags explicitly allowed in a prescriptive list included in the bill, such as the U.S. flag, the state flag, military flags, Olympic flags, college or university flags, or others.
Pride flags or other LGBTQ+ flags — which Utah lawmakers in recent years have repeatedly tried to bar from schools in various ways — would be prohibited.
As critics decry 'gross government overreach,' bill to ban pride flags from schools advances
The bill's sponsors, Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, and Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, argued it's meant to encourage 'political neutrality' from government workers, including teachers. But critics, including Democrats, argued the broad ban on all government properties will invite free speech litigation while also leaving some Utahns, including the LGBTQ+ community, feeling unwelcome and erased.
While the bill started out as one aimed at classrooms, McCay's arguments on the Senate floor reflected an appetite to also prevent other city governments from displaying certain flags, like pride flags, on their buildings' exterior.
Utah Democratic capital city, Salt Lake City, hosts the Utah Pride Festival and Pride Parade every year at Library Square. Senate leaders told reporters Thursday that HB71 will prevent government officials from hanging pride flags in and around city and county buildings, but would still allow Utahns who are protesting or rallying to carry their flags in public.
McCay said he thinks other local governments should be more like how the Utah Capitol is run.
'You know, we at the Capitol here at the state, we have strong rules about what (can be displayed) on the outside of the building,' he said. 'We're very careful and do all we can to make sure that everyone is welcome and everyone feels, you know, that the outside of the building appears to be politically neutral.'
Without naming Salt Lake City or other cities or counties, McCay said 'that is not the case in several government buildings around the state.'
'The effort here is to try and restore that political neutrality' to public buildings and school classrooms, McCay said.
Sen. Stephanie Pitcher, D-Salt Lake City, tried unsuccessfully to scale the bill back closer to applying only to school districts, warning that its current language could be unconstitutional, but a majority of Senate Republicans rejected her proposed amendment.
'The Supreme Court has recognized that local government entities hold independent free speech rights known as the government speech doctrine,' Pitcher said, adding that case law has established that 'government entities have the right to speak for itself.'
'I think we can save ourselves a lot of money and litigation by passing this amendment and bringing this bill to a place where it's constitutionally sound,' Pitcher said, before the Senate voted it down.
McCay pushed back, arguing that while the Supreme Court 'says there is room for local expression, it does not mean that the majority has the ability to change the historical focus or warp the building into its own political speech.'
Thatcher — a Republican who at times strays from his fellow GOP senators, especially on LGBTQ+ issues — argued against the bill, saying cities and counties 'elect their own representation' and 'they know their own people.'
Utah bill to ban LGBTQ+ flags from schools — and in all government buildings — heads to House
'I'm wearing my Gadsden flag today,' Thatcher said, pointing to a yellow pin on his lapel with the 'Don't Tread On Me' logo, 'because I feel like we have been doing an awful lot of treading this year. And I think liberty is liberty, even if people want to liberty different than us.'
Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, also spoke against the bill, arguing lawmakers shouldn't infringe on free speech.
'I don't think that it disappoints people when we have different flags in our schools, I think it empowers them to find connections and to find understanding,' she said.
Sen. Jen Plumb, D-Salt Lake City, argued against the bill, saying the issue 'feels so much bigger than just who likes your flag.'
'Taking away the ability for people to speak and represent who they are, just seems so fundamentally un-American to me,' Plumb said, urging lawmakers to consider what it means to take away freedom of speech, 'which I think every single one of us clings to and cherishes. It doesn't matter to me what population it is, I don't want it taken from anyone.'
McCay — who last year was part of an unsuccessful effort to pass a previous flag ban on the final night of the 2024 session — argued HB77 isn't about taking away people's 'right to express themselves.'
'I believe that all those rights of expression … are important, and they need to be respected for the individuals to express them,' McCay said. 'The government, on the other hand, is intended to do the people's business, regardless of their political perspective, political identity or ideology.'
McCay also compared the debate to restricting religion from government buildings and classrooms, calling the arguments against HB77 'ironic.'
'The fact that that's the interpretation that people took from the Constitution is such a perverted end result,' he said. 'When you remove the morality or the ability to express morality on one side, you do not get to replace it with your own.'
McCay added 'the government is meant to be for all people. It should not be subject to the majority decision about what the outside of the building should become as a method of political speech.'
He went on to argue that 'ideology' shouldn't be on display in classrooms, either.
'The sad truth of the matter is, as the left has removed religion entirely and morality from classrooms,' McCay said, before he was interrupted by a 'point of order' from Riebe. McCay balked, saying he's been 'called a racist' on the Senate floor before Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, told him to stay focused on the bill.
Still, McCay continued.
'At the end of the day, those who have fought for removing religion or morality from our classrooms, they have invited in a presence that is unwelcome by many,' McCay said. 'This is just an effort to try and trim back, in our classrooms, that type of political speech.'
In two legislative public hearings on HB77, Utahns including those identifying with the LGBTQ+ community passionately argued pride or LGBTQ+ flags aren't 'political' or trying to push an 'agenda,' but rather they're meant to signal to youth that they're loved as they are. Research shows LGBTQ+ youth face an increased risk of self harm and suicidal attempts compared to heterosexual youth.
Equality Utah — the state's largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization — issued a statement Thursday saying lawmakers passed a 'blatantly unconstitutional bill.'
'This legislation, seemingly fueled by an ongoing dispute with Salt Lake City, strips away local control and targets the free expression of Utah's communities,' Equality Utah's executive director, Troy Williams, and the group's policy director Marina Lowe, said in the statement. 'In this political tug-of-war, LGBTQ Utahns have unfairly become collateral damage.'
While Williams and Lowe said they were able to secure 'critical amendments' to the bill — which preserve 'the right of students and teachers to wear rainbow stickers, pins, and patches in classrooms — this does not erase the bill's broader harm.'
They said McCay's arguments on the Senate floor 'made it clear that HB77 aims to censor the free speech rights of municipalities statewide, a move that oversteps legislative authority and invites legal scrutiny.'
'Equality Utah is frustrated by this outcome, but our resolve remains unshaken,' Williams and Lowe said. 'We will continue to fight for the rights and visibility of LGBTQ Utahns, supporting efforts to challenge this bill in court and hold the state accountable.'
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