Hours before a statewide ban on pride and other unsanctioned flags in schools and on government property takes effect, Salt Lake City is looking to adopt versions of the pride, transgender visibility and Juneteenth flags as official city flags — an effort to comply with the law while bucking the Republican sponsor’s intent.
The ordinance, proposed by Mayor Erin Mendenhall, would have the city officially adopt the three flags, each with the addition of a sego lily, similar to the capital city’s official flag.
The newly official flags would include: the Sego Belonging Flag to match the rainbow pride flag; the Sego Visibility Flag for the blue, pink and white transgender visibility flag; and the Sego Celebration Flag, a city version of the red, blue and white bursting star flag used to celebrate the end of slavery in the U.S., known as Juneteenth.
Mendenhall proposed the ordinance Tuesday evening to the City Council after meeting with council members beforehand in an impromptu closed-door session.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said officials expected the ordinance to be adopted at the council‘s formal meeting later Tuesday night.
The mayor chose the three flags, her office said, because they are the only ones the city has routinely flown that would now be considered illegal under the new law.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Juneteenth flag is raised at Salt Lake City Hall during a ceremony in 2023.
The move to designate the three flags as official city flags comes the day before a statewide prohibition on the display of unsanctioned flags in public schools and on government property is set to take effect. HB77 House sponsor Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, said on social media when he first introduced the bill that his goal was to eliminate pride flags in schools, and a later version of the legislation expanded the ban to all government property.
Under the law, the flags approved for display will include the U.S. flag, Utah state flag, historic versions of the U.S. and Utah flags, flags of Native American tribes, Olympic flags, military flags, flags of other countries and flags for colleges and universities. The law also includes a carve-out for flags displayed for educational purposes as part of an approved curriculum.
Additionally, the law allows for “a flag that represents a city, municipality, county, or political subdivision of the state.” By adopting the pride, trans visibility and Juneteenth flags as official versions of Salt Lake City flags — flags that represent a city — the mayor’s office believes the city will be in compliance with the law.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, is the sponsor of the ban on pride flags at public schools and government buildings.
It is not abnormal, a representative from Mendenhall‘s office noted, to have multiple official flags. Utah has two: a new design designated in 2023, as well as the historic state flag.
During her remarks to the council Tuesday, Mendenhall quoted remarks HB77’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Dan McCay, made two years ago when the state designated its new official flag, although she did not mention him by name.
“The sego in the upper hoist canton in each of these designs is our city’s most recognized emblem, leaving no question that each flag is representative of Salt Lake City,” she said. “Specifically, the Utah state senator once said, ‘People don’t rally behind the flag. They rally behind the ideals and principles the flag represents.’ In each of these flags, our city’s residents see that representation.”
After Mendenhall’s initial proposal Tuesday evening to the council, McCay shared an apparently artificial intelligence-generated image on social media of a flag with the logo of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a sego lily, writing, “Excited that @slcmayor and @slcCouncil will also be flying this new SLC flag so that all historic constituents will be ‘seen.’”
Lee also shared a post about the proposal Tuesday evening and wrote, “Does Salt Lake City really want to play these games? Good luck!”
Neither McCay nor Lee immediately responded to requests for comment on the mayor’s proposal or whether they considered the move to add the flags a violation of the law.
The ban on unsanctioned flags in public schools and on government property takes effect this week without the signature of Gov. Spencer Cox. The Republican governor said in March that he chose not to veto the bill because he believed lawmakers would override his decision, but he raised a number of concerns about the legislation.
“As tired as Utahns are of politically divisive symbols, I think they are also tired of culture war bills that don’t solve the problems they intend to fix,” he wrote in a letter to lawmakers at the time. He added that while he supports making classrooms “neutral” spaces, he did not think the bill achieved that goal and that he felt the bill went too far in its application to government property.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hundreds of people show up at the Utah Capitol in March 2025 to fly the largest transgender pride flag in Utah.
“While I think it’s wrong for city and county officials to fly divisive flags, I believe that elections have consequences and the best way to stop that behavior is to elect people who believe differently,” he wrote. “All this bill does is add more fuel to the fire.”
Cox called for legislators to consider amending the bill in a special session to remove the provisions that apply to government property. If and when lawmakers will meet for a special session and what may be on the agenda for that session has not been confirmed.
Cox’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the city’s move to add the additional official flags.
HB77 was the subject of significant public attention during the legislative session earlier this year, and Lee attracted additional controversy when he said during a House hearing that, under the bill, Nazi and Confederate flags could be displayed in classrooms in some cases — comments he later denied making.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
