A year after two attempts to bar pride flags from being displayed in classrooms failed, Utah’s supermajority Republican Legislature will once again weigh whether the symbol representing the LGBTQ+ community can fly at schools.
Under “Flag Display Amendments,” introduced by Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, and made public Thursday, K-12 public and charter schools would only be allowed to hang flags listed in the bill, including the U.S. flag, state flag, flags of Native American tribes, military flags, flags of other countries and flags for colleges and universities. Flags temporarily displayed as part of the school’s approved curriculum would also be permitted.
If a parent complains about a non-sanctioned flag and a school board doesn’t resolve the grievance within 10 days, the bill would give parents the right to sue.
The bill is nearly a copy-and-paste of a last-minute effort by Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, during the 2024 legislative session to replace legislation specifying how schools should deal with employees who are the subject of a criminal investigation with a de facto pride flag ban.
The former version had already been approved by the House of Representatives, and if the substitute put forward in the final hours of the session had passed, it would have evaded the typical legislative process.
McCay’s eleventh-hour move to rush a pride flag ban into law was Republican lawmakers’ second try last year at restricting what teachers can and can’t use in their classrooms, specifically targeting LGBTQ+ identities. An earlier bill from Rep. Jeff Stenquist, R-Draper, would have had a broader impact on schools but was rejected after legislators raised concerns that its measures were too vague.
Responding to a 2023 survey of Utah 8th, 10th and 12th graders, approximately 10.8% of students said they identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual. Around 1.4% identified as transgender.
When asked in a text message about his reasoning for reintroducing the proposal, Lee called a reporter with The Salt Lake Tribune a “race baiting activist” and said to “never contact me again.” In a separate email, Lee said The Tribune is “communist scum.”
The lawmaker later confirmed on social media that his proposal “would ban Pride flags from schools.” He added: “Parents could sue the school district if it’s violated.”
On a personal social media account on the platform X, then known as Twitter, Lee has previously made posts attacking the LGBTQ+ community and criticizing the use of pride flags, The Tribune reported when he first ran for the Legislature in 2022.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, on the House floor during the start of 2024 legislative session at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024.
The profile picture Lee used for the account featured an umbrella emblazoned with “FamProc” shielding a house that says “The Family” from a rainbow — imagery associated with DezNat, or the Deseret nationalist movement.
People who identify with the far-right faction of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defend orthodox interpretations of the faith’s doctrines and have advocated for those principles to be incorporated into law. “FamProc,” as used in the account’s avatar, is short for “The Family Proclamation,” the 1995 church declaration that defines marriage as between a man and a woman and advocates for traditional gender roles for men and women.
The Utah-based church has previously emphasized that these self-anointed defenders of the faith are not affiliated with or endorsed by the global religion.
In June 2022, Lee replied “Gosh, this is amazing” to a post that claimed the message of Pride Month is “satanic.”
(Screenshot via Twitter) A screenshot from Republican Trevor Lee's now-deleted Twitter account.
Another Lee post in April of that year included a meme insinuating that public school teachers influence children to change their gender identity. Replying to his own post, he tagged the account of Gov. Spencer Cox.
It’s unclear what support Lee might have in running the bill restricting pride flags in schools this year. The 45-day general legislative session begins on Jan. 21.
