Blue cities adopt Pride flags as official symbols in bid to skirt red-state laws
Utah and Idaho both have laws on the books barring government buildings from flying most flags, save for a select few – like the American flag and military flags. Utah's law went into effect Wednesday.
UTAH BANS LGBTQ+ PRIDE FLAGS, MAGA FLAGS, OTHER UNAPPROVED FLAGS IN GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, SCHOOLS
In an eleventh-hour bid to circumvent the coming restrictions, Salt Lake City adopted four flags Tuesday: its existing flag, as well as modified versions of the Progress Pride, Transgender Pride and Juneteenth flags – each including the city's signature sego lily.
They were presented by Mayor Erin Mendenhall for adoption via ordinance, explained her spokesperson, Andrew Wittenberg, to Fox News Digital.
"My sincere intent is not to provoke or cause division," Mendenhall said, according to The AP.
"My intent is to represent our city's values and honor our dear diverse residents who make up this beautiful city and the legacy of pain and progress that they have endured," she continued.
Violators of the Utah law, which Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, allowed to pass without his signature, can be fined $500 per day. The law's supporters maintain that it's a matter of institutions maintaining political neutrality.
STATE DEPARTMENT BLOCKS PRIDE, BLM FLAGS FROM EMBASSIES, OUTPOSTS WITH 'ONE FLAG POLICY'
"This law is about keeping government spaces neutral and welcoming to all," Republican House Speaker Mike Schultz said. "Salt Lake City should focus on real issues, not political theatrics."
Meanwhile, in Boise, Idaho, Mayor Lauren McLean issued a proclamation last week retroactively designating the pride flag as an official city flag.
McLean has maintained that the Idaho law is not sound – and has even flown the pride flag over City Hall after it was enacted.
McLean has yet to respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
McLean and Mendenhall spoke Monday night to discuss their cities' respective plans, though Wittenberg stressed to Fox News Digital that there was "no prior or additional coordination" between the cities' officials.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
10 hours ago
- New York Post
NJ ‘Moms for Liberty' leader claims Girl Scouts fired her for not promoting Pride Month activism
A New Jersey Girl Scout troop leader who was fired by the renowned youth organization claimed she was let go for not bringing her group to LGBTQ+ events during Pride Month. Alexandra Bougher, a 45-year-old Moms for Liberty chapter chair in Bergen County, was released by two members of Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey during a phone call on Wednesday, she said. 3 Alexandra Boughter, 45, concluded she was removed from the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey for sharing anti-LBGTQ+ stances online. Instagram/@alexandrab444 Advertisement Bougher said the pair who fired her didn't elaborate on their reasoning and only vaguely pointed to a violation of their code of conduct. She said that her daughter was also removed from the scouts as part of her own excommunication. She independently concluded that the entire ordeal had to do with a comment she shared in June responding to a post on the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey's social media celebrating Pride Month. 'I reposted it and I said, 'Just to be clear, my troop will not be doing this,'' Bougher told NJ Advance Media. Advertisement 'I guess that's the one. They actually refused to tell me which one it was, but I'm assuming it was that one since it was pulled off their site.' 3 Boughter said she commented that her troop would not be participating in Pride Month celebrations. Facebook/Moms for Liberty Boughter was a seven-year leader with the troops and led roughly 30 girls before she was canned. She said she was appalled by the Girl Scouts' apparent shift towards left-wing advocacy, including promoting LGBTQ+ events and Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Advertisement 'And we were like, this is not what Girl Scouts is about, and it's also dangerous — bringing young children there. We sort of saw that change and some other things too, but you know, I kept my mouth shut, I kept my troop — they're all friends with each other. They can do those events and we'll do our own thing, you know,' Boughter told the outlet. Her firing came two months after sharing a since-deleted post online that spurred threats of violence against a local church displaying a pride flag, reported. 3 Boughter worked with the Girl Scouts for seven years. X/@AlexandraBough3 She shared a post condemning a local church's display of a Progressive Pride Flag, which includes black and brown stripes representing queer folks in marginalized communities and other colors for transgender pride. Advertisement Many of the comments on Boughter's post repeatedly insisted that the expansion of the Pride Flag included representation for 'minor-attracted persons,' which is not true. The church added that 'one commentator suggested the only way to deal with us was with 'gasoline and a match'.' Boughter still stood by her original message and condemnation, but denounced the calls to violence. The Post has reached out to Girl Scouts and the northern New Jersey chapter for comment.
Business Insider
14 hours ago
- Business Insider
'Something's Gotta Break!': Target Stock (NYSE:TGT) Slips, New Boycott May Rise
There are some cracks emerging in the facade of retail giant Target (TGT). Foot traffic is still down even six months after the last boycott hit. Moreover, there could be another boycott brewing that will hit Target ahead of holiday shopping season. The idea left investors cold, and shares slipped nearly 1.5% in Friday afternoon's trading. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Target has had some serious trouble lately with political matters. Around two years ago, during the Biden administration, conservatives took aim at Target. They launched a boycott over Target's sale of LGBTQ-themed merchandise, as well as certain policies about the store's restrooms. The boycott seemed to work, and Target pivoted, changing display policies, bathroom policies, and even later making the move to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in accordance with new policies from President Trump. But liberals saw that the boycott plan worked, and launched their own, in protest of the DEI shutdown. Reports noted that foot traffic at Target is down, and falling. In fact, foot traffic fell for the sixth month in a row in year-over-year comparisons. Yet not all the lost foot traffic is attributable to politics. Some believe that Target is '…slipping on retail basics,' like empty cart corrals and understocked, unclean shelves. Another Boycott Brewing? There are also signs that another boycott could be in the works, which might hit Target at the worst possible time: holiday shopping season. Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant has been working on the notion of getting his flock to stop shopping at Target stores, again over issues of DEI. Bryant took to his pulpit to insist 'Something's gotta break!' in the midst of a sermon about debt, divorce, and drugs, after which he quickly pivoted to taking on Target. While Bryant acknowledges that the momentum is against him—especially given that the Trump Administration is referring to DEI programs as 'illegal DEI'—Bryant believes that a boycott might also serve as a '…way to energize those younger churchgoers that remain,' a number that has been falling off historically since at least 2007. So if Bryant, and those like him, believe they may be able to use a Target boycott to put life back in their churches, then a boycott may indeed be coming. Is Target Stock a Good Buy? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on TGT stock based on 11 Buys, 17 Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 27.62% loss in its share price over the past year, the average TGT price target of $103.40 per share implies 0.51% upside potential.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Idaho Gov. Brad Little orders budget cuts amid tax breaks, revenue shortfall
Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Friday signed an executive order requiring all state agencies other than public schools to cut spending, he announced in a news release. It was the first time since 2020 such cuts have been ordered, according to the Governor's Office. The order cited the need to cut spending after Idaho lawmakers reduced income and property taxes by over 20%. The Governor's Office said the state must 'make way' for the tax cuts in President Donald Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill.' State agencies, including the Idaho State Police, Department of Correction and Department of Health and Welfare — which administers Medicaid — must reduce their general fund spending by 3% for the 2026 fiscal year, which began in July. They can consider consolidating services or agencies, eliminating vacant positions, cutting back on contract costs, and reviewing unused funds that are 'not critical' to operations, according to the order. 'Idaho will right-size government to match the means of Idahoans,' the order read. In the news release about the order, the Governor's Office celebrated Idaho's strong and rapidly growing economy. The Idaho Legislature this year made 'unprecedented' investments in school facilities, teacher pay and literacy, 'demonstrating we can have it all,' Little wrote in the order. 'We can simultaneously cut taxes while meeting the needs of a growing state.' Idaho Democrats pushed back on that framing. Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, in a Friday news release said 'no amount of spin can hide the truth.' 'If Idaho's fiscal health were truly as strong as Republicans claim, there would be no need to strip funding mid-year,' Wintrow said. 'Ending this wasteful scheme will not close the hundreds of millions of dollars in budget shortfalls created by Republican giveaways.' Idaho Democrats also pointed the finger at the GOP's passage of laws that cost more money, such as allowing public funding for private school tuition. Lauren Necochea, the party's chair, in another news release said the program blew 'a hole in the budget' and called the cuts 'the bill coming due for reckless Republican rule.' 'We were honest with Idahoans about where this budget was headed,' she said. 'Back in the spring, Democrats warned that Statehouse Republicans were budgeting dishonestly while the Trump regime was driving up costs and undermining our economy. The GOP ignored these warnings, and now Idaho families are paying the price.' Though it expressed appreciation for Little's exclusion of public schools from the cuts, the Idaho Education Association in a release called them 'very unfortunate and completely predictable.' 'The Idaho Legislature's massive tax cuts easily foretold this outcome, even as lawmakers dismissed the needs of basic governing and Idaho's most vulnerable residents,' President Layne McInelly wrote. 'Idaho Education Association members believe Gov. Little is right to spare Idaho's public school students and classrooms from even more fiscal austerity while lawmakers write checks to the wealthy.' In recent months, state revenues came in below forecasts set by the Legislature. Little in February told reporters he worried that lawmakers' proposals to cut taxes were beyond what the state could afford. The Legislature cut taxes by $400 million and spent another $50 million on a tax credit for private education. Those bills, which Little signed into law, reduced revenue available for the state budget by about $453 million, the Idaho Capital Sun reported. In his January State of the State address, Little called for a reduction of the fund by $100 million — less than a quarter of the Legislature's amount. 'If I would have thought we could do $450 (million), I would have proposed $450 (million),' Little said of the hundreds of millions more that lawmakers aim to return to taxpayers. On Friday, Democrats called for a special legislative session to repeal the tax credit program, often referred to as school vouchers. 'It is an essential first step toward restoring fiscal responsibility,' Wintrow said in the release. Idaho continues its 'historic' tax cuts. Here's what residents can expect What will Trump administration cuts mean for Idaho? Gov. Little predicts 'economic shock' Solve the daily Crossword
