Hours before a statewide ban on pride and other unsanctioned flags in schools and on government property took effect, Salt Lake City adopted its own versions of the pride, transgender visibility and Juneteenth flags as official city flags — an effort to comply with the law while still flying them and bucking the Republican sponsor’s intent.
The ordinance — proposed by Mayor Erin Mendenhall and passed unanimously Tuesday after powerful statements from City Council members — will see Utah’s capital officially adopt the three flags, each with the addition of a sego lily in one corner, similar to the city’s official flag.
In addition to that floral flag, the city’s newly declared official banners will 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.
In the works for weeks, Mendenhall unveiled an ordinance to that effect and displayed the flags publicly Tuesday during a council work session after first meeting with its members in an impromptu, 45-minute closed-door talk. (The stated reasons for closing discussions to the public were to receive advice from attorneys, review pending litigation and talk about the deployment of security.)
The mayor told council members later said she had been proud to see the flags flown over City Hall and Washington Square in the years since taking office “because they represent the values of this city, of our community. And though I am not gay, I am not trans, I am not Black, I feel a strong, heartfelt connection to these symbols.”
Faced with the banners now being banned from some public spaces, the mayor said she chose the three flags “to represent and honor our dear diverse residents who make up this beautiful city and the legacy of pain and progress that they have enjoyed.”
“I do not do this lightly,” she said, “and my sincere intent is not to provoke or cause division.”
[Read more: This gay Utah mayor plans to keep pride flags in his city office as a state ban goes into effect.]
The ordinance then drew strong support from members of the city’s LGBTQ-majority council, with its chair, Chris Wharton, saying the pride flag’s colors “represent our shared humanity and the highest ideals of freedom, perseverance and love.
“I admit the pride flag is not neutral in this regard,” said Wharton, “but neither is the Christmas tree that we put up in City Hall in December. Neither are the covered wagons that we have come down our street in July. Yet we use these symbols to represent our diversity as well as our unity.”
(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 three new flags as official — in addition to its standard one, adopted in 2020 — came the day before a statewide prohibition on the display of unsanctioned flags in public schools and on government property was set to take effect.
HB77‘s 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.
Mendenhall said before Tuesday’s vote that adding the flags was Salt Lake City’s way of navigating HB77 while also standing up for what its residents believe.
“As mayor, I have the duty to lawfully uphold the values of our nation, state and our city,” the mayor said. “I know that the values of diversity, equity and inclusion are not only right and just, they’re fundamental to America — even through all its struggles to uphold them.
“I am not interested in any debate about the rightness of these values,” she said. “They are American. They are ours and they are right.”
Under the state 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, HB77 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 — municipal leaders believe the city will be in compliance with the law and that its stance may also be legally protected by the First Amendment.
(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.
Utah itself has two official flags: a new design designated in 2023, as well as the historic state flag.
Council weighs in
Council member Sarah Young, representing Sugar House’s District 7, quoted from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., noting that “hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
“Today is an act of love,” said Young, before the council’s 7-0 vote. “We are showing as a city that we love the residents and our community members. Everyone is welcome here in Salt Lake City.”
The flags, noted council member Alejandro Puy, “are symbols that highlight we are not invisible anymore. These flags are not meant to be kept in any closet anymore.”
Puy, representing the west side’s District 2, also said he hoped the flags would also be seen as symbols that “this government and this building are embracing all, even those who for many, many years, they never had a seat at the table.”
In that respect, Puy said, “this is one of the most American things we could do today.”
Council member Darin Mano, whose District 5 includes the Ballpark and Central Ninth areas, offered a personal thanks to the mayor and her staff, saying the ordinance “means a lot to me. It means a lot to my family.
“It’s not a coincidence that we have a majority of LGBTQ council,” Mano said. “It’s because this is the place within not just Utah, but within many states surrounding us, where people like us feel safe. So this is important and critical for us as a city, but, more importantly, for the people that live here to know that Salt Lake City continues to be a safe space for everybody.”
During her remarks to the council Tuesday, Mendenhall quoted two of the law’s major proponents — Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton and HB77’s Senate sponsor and champion of Utah’s new state flag, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper — without mentioning them 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 before referring to remarks McCay made two years ago when the state unveiled its new flag. “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.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mayor Erin Mendenhall proposes three new city flags during a meeting of the Salt Lake City Council on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
Later, she referred to a comment from Schultz last month: “It was recently said that ‘symbols displayed in classrooms and government buildings should represent unity,’ and I agree with that today more than ever before,” the mayor said. “Symbols hold incredible power to unite us in a time when so much uncertainty, so much fear, threatens to divide us our city.”
In a statement shared with The Salt Lake Tribune, Schultz condemned the city’s move to adopt new flags.
“Salt Lake City’s move to bypass state law is a clear waste of time and taxpayer resources,” the House speaker said. “This law is about keeping government spaces neutral and welcoming to all. Salt Lake City should focus on real issues, not political theatrics.”
After Mendenhall’s initial proposal was aired 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, HB77’s sponsor, also shared a post about the proposal Tuesday evening and wrote, “Does Salt Lake City really want to play these games? Good luck!”
McCay did not immediately respond late Tuesday to a request for comment on the city ordinance or whether he considered the move to add the flags a violation of the law.
A spokesperson for Lee said the representative had no official comment on the city’s move to adopt new flags, but added that he looks “forward to next session as lawmakers are able to open bill files beginning tomorrow.”
A ‘simple show of support’
LGBTQ advocates celebrated the move Tuesday night.
“We’ve heard repeatedly how much of an impact this simple show of support can make for members of our community,” LGBTQ group Project Rainbow said in a statement. “HB77 threatens to hinder these efforts, and we are grateful to Salt Lake City for standing up for LGBTQ+ Utahns and pushing back against legislation aimed at erasing our community.”
Betty Sawyer, director of the Utah Juneteenth Freedom and Heritage Festival, praised the mayor and the council Tuesday for recognizing the Juneteenth flag, saying it “uplifts and honors” the state and federal holiday.
“By valuing the contributions of all of us,” Sawyer said, “we get to build and work and play together and honor our history and heritage.”
The ban on unsanctioned flags in public schools and on government property took 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.
Asked for comment about the city’s move Tuesday, a spokesperson for the governor’s office pointed to a letter Cox wrote to lawmakers when he let the bill become law without his signature.
“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 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.
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.
