Salt Lake City’s adoption of three new official flags — incorporating pride, transgender and Juneteenth symbols — may fly in the face of the Utah Legislature’s ban, but it prompts the question: Will other cities and counties raise similar banners?
Park City, in particular, is evaluating its options.
At-large City Council member Jeremy Rubell said the panel had directed the city attorney’s office to give an interpretation of HB77, the state law blocking public schools and government entities from flying unofficial flags, like the pride, trans visibility and Juneteenth flags.
“Let’s just say diversity and inclusion are very important to us,” Rubell said, “and we’re going to do whatever we can within the framework we’re given to show our community that we do support them.”
Rubell said the Summit County resort town planned to continue wrapping some of its buses in rainbow colors and adding pride banners to some streets during June, traditionally when LGBTQ+ pride events happen around the country.
Here is what other municipal and county leaders had to say about Salt Lake City’s move:
“I find the flag ban ridiculous and a government overreach. I will take a look at what Salt Lake City is doing and see if there is an interest at Salt Lake County to do something similar.”
— Jenny Wilson, Salt Lake County mayor.
“I am very excited and wholeheartedly support the efforts of Mayor [Erin] Mendenhall and the Salt Lake City Council. At this time, Midvale does not have any plans to replicate what they did. I think most municipalities are in a wait to see what the Legislature does in response.”
— Dustin Gettel, Midvale mayor.
“I would be concerned about not being able to be welcoming to other parts of our community, the LGBTQI community, as well as the African American community. We have actually flown the Juneteenth flag on our standards at Millcreek Common, and it’s unfortunate we can’t do that without some trick. But I don’t know that it’s worth creating division on the issue, and it’s something we’ll evaluate.”
— Jeff Silvestrini, Millcreek mayor.
“The bottom line, from Holladay’s standpoint, is it’s not something we were really aware of or have addressed, but I’m not sure it’s something that we would do as a city. We would stay away from something like that because it expands beyond what we consider to be local city politics, which is what we think our citizens want us to deal with.”
— Rob Dahle, Holladay mayor.
“Grand County has not considered that and probably will not unless it has to be addressed. Grand County will follow and abide by state law.”
— Bill Winfield, Grand County Commission chair.
