For the first time, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox did not declare June as Pride Month.
Instead, Cox declared June 2024 as a “Month of Bridge Building,” sharing a copy of his declaration on the social media platform X. In the post, Cox said that past declarations — seeming to refer to “Pride Month” declarations without stating the words — “have been turned into a lightning rod for more division and hurt.”
“This year, we want to focus even more on that core message of bridge-building and respect — to all in our state and during this month,” his post continued, “with an extra focus on those in our community who are LGBTQ and may have felt like they don’t belong here in Utah.”
The declaration comes amid a heated Republican primary race for Utah governor. In April, Cox was met with boos when he took the stage at the Republican State Nominating Convention, where GOP primary opponent state Rep. Phil Lyman ultimately garnered 67.5% of delegates’ votes.
“Maybe you’re booing me because you hate that I signed the largest tax cut in Utah history. Maybe you hate that I signed constitutional carry into law. Maybe you hate that we ended CRT, DEI and ESG,” Cox said at the event. “Or maybe you hate that I don’t hate enough.”
Cox has since come under fire for suggesting delegates’ jeers were motivated by hatred. Lyman has also criticized Cox for past actions that he’s seen as friendly to the LGBTQ+ community — including Cox’s 2022 decision to veto a bill designed to ban transgender girls from participating in school sports that match their gender identity. The Legislature voted to override his veto.
This legislative session, Lyman proposed a transgender restroom ban bill. It never made it to public debate, but Cox signed a separate bill introduced by a different lawmaker into law that banned transgender people from using public restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms that align with their gender identity.
‘Pride is not simply about building bridges’
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox reacts to boos from delegates at the Utah Republican Nominating Convention in Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 27, 2024.
By contrast, the Utah House of Representatives’ Democratic Caucus on Saturday released a statement reaffirming its support for LGBTQ+ rights and honoring Pride Month as a celebration of love, acceptance and understanding uniting all individuals.
Utah Pride Center executive director Chad Call on Saturday said in a statement that bridges are “are an important part of infrastructures around the world” — ones that take years and many resources to build, “or they can be simple bridges that cross small obstacles.”
“But in either case, a bridge’s functionality is to move people from one location to another, over what otherwise would be an impassable obstacle,” Call continued. “With that said, we invite our elected government officials to do more than simply work to build the bridge, but we invite them, or rather we NEED them, to move across the bridge.”
Call went on to say Cox’s proclamation “falls short of addressing the real significance of this month for our community.”
“June is Pride Month — a time when we celebrate our identities, our history, and our resilience,” Call said. “Pride is not simply about building bridges; it is about recognizing and honoring the strength and unity of a marginalized community that has endured and continues to endure significant challenges.”
Call on Saturday invited anyone uncertain about why recognizing June as Pride Month is “crucial” to join the Utah Pride Center at the Utah Pride Festival. “Come see for yourself this radiant, beautiful community celebrating their belonging, their identity, and their pride,” the statement concluded.
Equality Utah executive director Troy Williams on Saturday, however, thanked the governor for his “Bridge Building” declaration.
“In politically divided times, the easy impulse is to turn away from each other and be suspicious,” Williams wrote in a post on X. “The challenge is to keep engaging, especially when it’s hard. Ultimately, what LGBTQ families are seeking is love, belonging and equal protection under the law.”
Past Pride Month declarations
Cox’s first two Pride Month declarations in 2021 and 2022 were identical, calling on the state to be more inclusive and accepting of LGBTQ+ people.
He noted that members of the LGBTQ+ community can experience higher rates of mental health challenges, and urged Utahns to give LGBTQ+ individuals “support, respect, understanding and friendship.”
Last year, however, Cox did not use the term “LGBTQ+” at all in his Pride Month declaration. The markedly shorter declaration instead pointed out that June is commonly recognized as Pride Month, and that the state is home to many groups that cultivate “love for all.”
That 2023 declaration sparked backlash from both sides of the political spectrum, with some calling it “disgraceful” and “disgusting” on social media, and others calling the statement ironic — since Cox signed legislation in January 2023 banning gender-affirming health care for transgender youth.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday about his “Bridge Building” declaration and his change in language in recent years.
When Cox vetoed the transgender girls sports ban in 2022, he said at the time that he always tries to “err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion,” citing that out of the roughly 75,000 kids participating in high school sports in Utah, only four transgender kids were among them.
“Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few,” Cox said in a 2022 letter to state legislative leaders. “I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live. And all the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly.”
In a live conversation with The Washington Post in February 2023, Cox also called himself “an ally to the LGBTQ community.”
“We have great relationships, I am very close with the advocates in our state,” he said.
Cox this year signed HB257, the transgender public restroom ban, into law on Jan. 30 — 11 days in to the legislative session.
In February, during an event promoting his “Disagree Better” initiative in Washington, D.C., Cox called gender-affirming health care for transgender people “gender mutilation surgery.” He also claimed that “no one” in Utah has taken their own life as a result of the state’s ban on such care for transgender youth.
Correction • June 1, 6:30 p.m.: The story has been updated to correct a description of legislation that Cox signed into law.
