Salt Lake City, Utah, often referred to as the “Mormon capital of the world,” has added transgender and progress pride flags to its new slate of city flags.
The city formally adopted three new city flags on Tuesday in an attempt to skirt a state law prohibiting the flying of LGBT pride flags and other non-official banners at its City Hall.
In addition to its traditional Sego Lily Flag, Salt Lake City adopted three new flags to celebrate what officials called “human rights”: the “Sego Celebration Flag,” marking Juneteenth; the Sego Belonging Flag,” representing the city’s LGBT-identified residents; and the Sego Visibility Flag, to demonstrate the city’s “commitment to seeing and celebrating transgender-identified residents.
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The flags will fly alongside the State of Utah and American flags, city officials said.
All three flags feature the sego lily, the city’s most recognized emblem, and were chosen because, officials said, “versions of them have been consistently displayed at City Hall during Mayor [Erin] Mendenhall’s time in office and are representative of our community’s diverse, loving, and accepting values.”
“Our city flags are powerful symbols representing Salt Lake City’s values,” Mendenhall said in a statement. “I want all Salt Lakers to look up at these flags and be reminded that we value diversity, equity and inclusion, leaving no doubt that we are united as a city and people, moving forward together.”
Under Utah’s House Bill 77, which became law in March without the governor’s signature, the city cannot display any flags on government property unless they meet the criteria outlined in the bill as an “exempted flag.” By designating the flags as official emblems, the city potentially avoids violating the law.
The law imposes a $500 fine per day on any state or local government buildings that fly any flag that is not the U.S. flag, the state flag, a military flag or a flag from a brief list of exempted ones approved by lawmakers. The state law also prohibits any political flags.
Republican Gov. Spencer Cox told lawmakers in March that while he had concerns about the bill, he would not issue a veto and would allow it to go into law without his signature. He added that he would “urge lawmakers to consider commonsense solutions that address the bill’s numerous flaws.”
“I appreciate that the bill is neutral on the types of flags in question (and I find it strange that no headline reads “MAGA flags banned from classrooms”),” Cox wrote. “I agree with the underlying intent of those legislators who supported this bill in an attempt to bring political neutrality to the classroom. Unfortunately, this bill does not do that.”
Salt Lake City was named the “gayest city in America” in 2012, and had the seventh-highest rate of LGBT-identified population in 2015.
