200-foot rainbow banner unfurled at capitol as GOP bans Pride flags on government land

Hundreds of demonstrators unfurled a 200-foot rainbow banner in front of the Utah state capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday in protest of a H.B. 77, bill that would ban rainbow and transgender Pride flags as well as other “non-sanctioned” flags from schools and other government property. In solidarity, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall also lit up the City/County Building in rainbow colors last Friday.

The state’s Republican-led legislature already passed the bill in a 49-20 House vote and a 21-8 Senate vote. State Gov. Spencer Cox (R) has indicated that he won’t veto the bill. While it’s unclear how many other states or local governments have passed similar bills, the U.S. Departments of Defense, State and Veterans Affairs under President Donald Trump have all recently issued directives forbidding the flying of Pride flags from government buildings, military installations and foreign embasssies.

The protest was reportedly organized in under 24 hours by the Utah Pride Center, a Salt Lake City-based LGBTQ+ community center that also provided the 200-foot flag.

The Utah bill only allows staff members on government property to fly the national, state, school or Olympic flags as well as ones recognizing Native American tribes, prisoners of war and military soldiers missing-in-action and also organizations that have been authorized to meet on school property during their events.

Government properties violating the law have 30 days to remove the flag, after which point they’ll be fined $500 a day for each day the non-sanctioned flag was visible.

Supporters of the Utah bill claim they want to refocus schools on education, but opponents say the law will reduce visible support of bullied and marginalized trans and queer students who have been recently targeted by Republican politicians and policies nationwide.

Corinne Johnson, Founder and President of Utah Parents United, a statewide “parents’ rights” group that opposes LGBTQ+-inclusive school policies, told KSTU, “We are setting our Utah schools back on a course to focus back to what matters most to parents and students, which is student success.”

“Schools have a certain responsibility that they must uphold,” Johnson continued. “Our state constitution states that every child is able to get a free and non-sectarian education and that means that we have to have a place where politics and identity and religion and all of these issues are set aside and we focus on American principles.”

London Skies, one of the protestors at the capitol told the aforementioned news station, “I actually feel really safe when I go into a neighborhood and I see a trans flag because I know that I have an ally, somebody that is supportive. Especially as a trans woman, there’s so much violence against us, especially with all the legislation and things that we’ve seen this year. When you see that, it makes you feel like if something did happen, I know that there’s someone on my side who would stand up for me.”

To show her personal opposition to the bill, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and others from her office colored the City/County building on Friday night.

“You will have to fire me before I take down my Pride flag,” Utah teacher J. Ryan Waddoups recently wrote in a letter addressed to state Republicans. “It serves as a symbol to our LGBTQ youth that they are loved, supported and accepted unconditionally.”

“A Pride flag does not promote homosexuality any more than a U.S. flag promotes invading Greenland or taking over Canada. It simply lets them know that they need not be afraid when they’re in my room,” he continued. “And, I promote the same acceptance for all of my students unless their stance is hostile towards others, e.g., Nazis and traitors. It will be a cold day in hell before I see a Nazi or Confederate flag flown in or near my room.”

“Pride flag. And if/when I do get fired, that will free up plenty of time for me to dedicate to you being revealed for the demons that you are,” he added.