As Sundance leaves, Utah Gov. Cox allows first-in-the-nation flag ban to become law without his pen
A pride flag flies at the Salt Lake City & County Building on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (McKenzie Romero/Utah News Dispatch)
Saying Utahns are 'tired of culture war bills that don't solve the problems they intend to fix,' Utah Gov. Spencer Cox will allow a bill aimed at banning many flags — including pride or LGBTQ+ flags — from schools and all government buildings to become law without his signature.
Cox explained his reasoning in a letter to legislative leaders issued with just over an hour to spare before his midnight deadline Thursday to sign or veto bills passed by the 2025 Utah Legislature.
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'HB77 has been one of the most divisive bills of the session, and I am deeply disappointed that it did not land in a better place,' wrote Cox, who also explained he agreed with the intent behind the legislation. 'My understanding is that there was a deal on a compromise that would have removed problematic portions of the bill while retaining others that would support political neutrality in the classroom. Sadly the sponsors did not move that deal forward.'
Supporters of HB77, sponsored by Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, argued it was meant to promote 'political neutrality' in government spaces. But critics argued a broad ban that extended to all government properties would invite free speech litigation while also leaving some Utahns, especially the LGBTQ+ community, feeling unwelcome and erased.
Now slated to take effect on May 7, HB77 will ban almost all flags from being displayed on or in public buildings, except for flags explicitly allowed in a prescriptive list included in the bill, such as the U.S. flag, the state flag, military flags, Olympic flags, college or university flags, or others. Pride flags or other LGBTQ+ flags — which Utah lawmakers in recent years have repeatedly tried to bar from schools in various ways — would be prohibited.
It's slated to make Utah the first state in the nation to enact such sweeping flag restrictions in government-owned buildings. The Idaho Legislature recently passed a similar bill, HB41, which Gov. Brad Little signed last week, but that legislation won't take effect until July 1 and it only applies to schools. Idaho lawmakers are also advancing a separate bill to restrict government entities from displaying certain types of flags.
Utah Legislature bans pride flags from schools, public buildings
Utah's largest LGBTQ+ rights group, Equality Utah, had negotiated with lawmakers on the bill, which originally focused the flag ban on school classrooms. However, in a House committee last month, Lee changed the legislation to broaden the flag ban to all government property, leading Equality Utah to oppose the bill even though it was prepared to take a 'neutral' position on its earlier version.
Cox faced numerous calls to veto HB77 from advocacy groups including Equality Utah and the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, as well as from Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, whose city hosts the annual Utah Pride Festival. He could have vetoed the bill — but he indicated in his letter that it would likely just be overridden by the GOP-supermajority Utah Legislature. Instead, he's urging lawmakers to work to fix it.
'I continue to have serious concerns with this bill,' Cox said. 'However, because a veto would be overridden, I have decided to allow the bill to go into law without my signature, and urge lawmakers to consider commonsense solutions that address the bill's numerous flaws.'
Cox encouraged lawmakers to consider allowing the Utah State Board of Education to 'go further in ensuring the political neutrality of our classrooms, while also considering repealing the local government piece of this legislation and allowing elected representatives to answer to their own constituents.'
'If you are willing to pursue this kind of solution, you will have an open door in the executive branch,' Cox wrote.
Cox's comments on the flag ban came after the bill cast final-hour drama over Utah's multimillion-dollar bid to entice the Sundance Film Festival to stay, with some saying it could impact Utah's chances.
Earlier Thursday, festival organizers announced they'd opted to move the event to Colorado to help the festival grow. By the time they'd reached their decision, Cox had not yet acted on HB77, but a veto was looking unlikely.
Sundance is leaving Utah, moving to Colorado
While Cox told reporters last week Sundance organizers had told state leaders 'very clearly that political issues have nothing to do with the decision,' others, including Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, worried that HB77 could indeed be 'harmful to our effort to retain Sundance.'
In the end, Utah lost its bid. Cox — who earlier Thursday called Sundance's decision a 'mistake' — also included a note in his letter that he'll be calling a special session to address, among other issues, what the Legislature should instead do with the $3.5 million it had set aside as part of Utah's bid to keep Sundance.
'Let's reappropriate that money to efforts in Utah to create a new festival and a world-class film economy right here in our state,' he said.
Cox, in his letter, dove deeper into why he had misgivings with HB77 but said he agreed with the 'underlying intent' of the bill.
'I deeply believe that our classrooms need to be a place where everyone feels welcome — free from the politics that are fracturing our country,' Cox wrote. 'Parents are rightly upset when they bring their kids to publicly funded schools and see culture-war symbols in a place that should be apolitical. In an attempt to make some kids feel more welcome, other kids feel less welcome.'
Cox also said he appreciated that the bill is 'neutral on the types of flags in question,' while adding that 'I find it strange that no headline reads 'MAGA flags banned from classrooms.''
Drama over Utah's bid to keep Sundance heats up over LGBTQ+ flag ban bill
'I agree with the underlying intent of those legislators who supported this bill in an attempt to bring political neutrality to the classroom,' he said, though he added, 'Unfortunately, this bill does not do that.'
He said because it's aimed at only flags, 'there is little preventing countless other displays — posters, signs, drawings, furniture — from entering the classroom.'
'To those legislators who supported this bill, I'm sure it will not fix what you are trying to fix,' Cox said.
He noted that many schools have already enacted their own 'political neutrality' policies in classrooms, and he argued 'we have a better place' to make regulations: the Utah State Board of Education. While he said the board has already set expectations for political neutrality in teacher code of conduct, 'I believe more needs to be done by USBE to provide direction in this regard.'
'I have asked the Board of Education to continue their work to find ways to make our classrooms both more politically neutral and more welcoming to every student to exercise their own individual freedom of expression,' Cox said. 'The idea that kids can only feel welcome in a school if a teacher puts up a rainbow flag is just wrong. Let's do everything possible to make our classrooms one of the last remaining politically neutral places in our state.'
The governor added that the flag ban 'goes too far' by extending the ban to local governments.
'While I think it's wrong for city and county officials to fly divisive flags, I believe that election have consequences and the best way to stop that behavior is to elect people who believe differently,' Cox said. '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.'
Ultimately, Cox urged legislators to focus on solutions rather than legislation that deepens divides.
'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 said.
The governor urged lawmakers to work with the LGBTQ+ community, as they have in the past, to find common ground.
'Utah has always had a reputation of trying to find a way to work together and solve issues between sides that have strongly-held, opposing points of view,' Cox said. 'There are so many examples of the LGBTQ community and the conservative community coming together to find helpful and hopeful compromise. I hope we can retain this as our model and North Star.'
The governor also shared a message directly to LGBTQ+ Utahns, acknowledging that 'recent legislation has been difficult.'
'Politics can be a bit of a blood sport at times and I know we have had our disagreements,' he said. 'I want you to know that I love and appreciate you and I am grateful that you are part of our state. I know these words may ring hollow to many of you, but please know that I mean them sincerely.'
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