Utah’s pride flag ban doesn’t take effect until May 7, but it’s already raised questions about what Utah public school teachers can — and can’t — display in their classrooms.
It came to a head recently when a West High School teacher in Salt Lake City recorded a video in her classroom, sharing the rainbow-colored stickers and signs that she chose to display in lieu of pride flags.
That video was picked up and posted earlier this month by Libs of TikTok, an account on X that shares anti-LGBTQ posts geared at generating right-wing outrage. Commenters called on the teacher to be investigated and fired, and the post eventually gained the attention of Republican Rep. Trevor Lee, the Utah lawmaker who sponsored the controversial bill, HB77.
“While my bill just covers the flags, HB281 will cover all these other symbols or anything purposely trying to subvert the law,” he wrote on X, referencing a separate measure that takes effect July 1. “Classrooms and taxpayer entities should always be politically neutral.”
Here’s what we know about what’s considered OK, and what isn’t, given the parameters of the law banning pride flags in government buildings and the second bill Lee cited.
What is allowed?
The simple answer is it varies, according to Utah State Board of Education spokesperson Sharon Turner.
Once the ban goes into effect, so long as it’s not a flag — defined as a “rectangular piece of fabric with a specific design that symbolizes a location, government entity, or cause” — current Utah code leaves that decision up to each individual school district.
Under HB77, the only flags allowed for display are: the U.S. flag, Utah state flag, flags of Native American tribes, Olympic flags, military flags, flags of other countries and flags for colleges and universities.
Things like stickers, pins or other pride signage are not mentioned in the law. It’s one reason Gov. Spencer Cox said he let the “flawed” law go into effect without signing it, acknowledging that a veto would be “overridden.”
“The bill is overly prescriptive on flags,” Cox wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “To those legislators who supported this bill, I’m sure it will not fix what you are trying to fix.”
The state school board does enforce Utah code and administrative rules, which require political neutrality in classrooms. But each district also defines what that looks like in policy, Turner said.
The guiding rule, R277-217, prohibits teachers from using their position to “endorse, promote, or disparage a particular partisan, religious, denominational, sectarian, agnostic, or atheistic belief or viewpoint, in a manner inconsistent with the policy of the educator’s [school district.]”
Cox in his letter noted that “fortunately” schools have political neutrality policies, and he argued that USBE is the more appropriate entity to handle the issue.
“Still, I believe more needs to be done by USBE to provide direction in this regard,” Cox wrote.
He added that he disagrees with the idea that “kids can only feel welcome in a school if a teacher puts up a rainbow flag,” but he also felt that HB77 “goes too far when applied to local governments.”
“All this bill does is add more fuel to the fire, and I suspect it will only ratchet up the creative use of political symbolism,” Cox wrote, adding that Utahns are “tired” of culture war bills.
In the meantime, for instance, Lift + Love, an organization that supports LGBTQ members of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, is giving away rainbow lapel pins to Utah public school employees. As of last week, they were out of stock, but the organization said it intends to get and give more away.
The West High teacher in her video showed a variety of items that she credited the school’s queer-straight alliance for offering to students and teachers. Her video included a small sign with rainbow-colored borders that read, “This is legally not a PRIDE flag as defined by H.B. 77,” with another line that read, “Removing this flyer violates the First Amendment and may result in legal repercussions.”
The teacher also placed a sticker on her laptop that read “HUMAN” in rainbow-colored letters. Another large sticker she placed in her classroom read “Be Kind,” with raised hand in rainbow colors, and the others a range of skin tones, spelling out the same phrase in American Sign Language.
Yándary Chatwin, a spokesperson for the Salt Lake City School District, confirmed the teacher worked at West High but declined to identify her, citing concerns for the teacher’s safety after several threats.
She added that the teacher in the video did not violate the district’s policy or Utah law.
“For decades, Salt Lake City School District has been known for our commitment to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for all students and staff, and we remain committed to this goal,” the district said in a statement April 4. “At the same time, we follow the law. … When HB77 goes into effect, our schools and district buildings will comply with the requirements related to prominently displaying flags.”
What about the other bill Lee mentioned?
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah Pride Center sponsors a protest at the Utah Capitol over HB77, a bill that bans pride flags from Utah schools and government property, on the last day of the Legislative session, Friday, March 7, 2025.
That bill, HB281, is titled “Health Curriculum and Procedures Amendments” and allows parents to make any topic off-limits between their children and school therapists.
The law does carve out certain exceptions, such as topics that would “compromise the student’s safety,” or if a student discloses information that would invoke a school employee’s duty to mandatorily report, such as allegations of child abuse or neglect.
The bill also imposes guardrails on sex education curriculum — and it includes a section titled, “Maintaining constitutional freedom in the public schools,” which seems to be what Lee cited.
There, the law states that “instructional activity” that is religious, political or cultural is allowed in Utah public schools so long as it achieves “academic educational objectives included within the context of a course or activity.”
It also says that school employees may not, regardless of a school district’s policy, use their position to “endorse, promote, or disparage a particular religious, denominational, sectarian, agnostic, or atheistic belief or viewpoint.”
The Tribune reached out to both Lee and the law’s sponsor, Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, for clarity after Lee’s comment on X, because the section seems to only address religious and nonreligious viewpoints. Neither responded.
Marina Lowe, policy director for Equality Utah, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, said Lee’s assertion that HB281 will have an impact on pride symbols seems like “a bit of a stretch.”
“HB281 definitely appears to be limited to mental health services in particular, and also goes so far as to describe the personnel in a school setting that fall within the orbit of the bill,” Lowe told the Tribune.
Teachers still have First Amendment rights
Lowe said the questions raised by HB77, and then the West High teacher’s video, highlight “how really preposterous the idea of this bill is in the first place.”
“Teachers do have First Amendment rights,” Lowe said. “Of course, their rights are not the same as they might be when they’re out on the street, but they didn’t lose their constitutional rights to engage in free speech with the passage of HB77.”
Lowe also argued that teachers have personalities, and unless Utah lawmakers want to sterilize the education system with robots, teachers shouldn’t “have to become entirely neutral and free of the things that make each of us individual and human.”
“People are going to always find ways to express their support for certain communities and certain things,” Lowe said.
She added that she feels Utah teachers are already over-regulated, and HB77 adds more burden.
“What we should be encouraging our teachers to focus on is just supporting students, providing them a good education,” she said, “allowing them to do their jobs in a way that they don’t have to be careful that any one word, or pin, or sticker, or whatever is going to get them in trouble.”
