HB77 would bar all public schools and government buildings from flying any non-sanctioned flags.
Sanctioned flags include officially-licensed college flags, flags representing federally-defined Indian tribes and official Olympic and Paralympic flags. However, the bill would most notably ban pride flags. One exception would allow educators teaching an approved course on LGBTQ+ history to display a Pride flag.
If a government entity violates the law, it has up to 30 days to remove the flags. A continued violation of the law, however, could result in a fine of $500 per violation, per day.
Under HB77’s rules, the Summit Pride Foundation and Park City Municipal can’t hold their annual pride flag-raising ceremony. The ceremony at Miner’s Hospital usually marks the first day of Pride Month each June.
Summit Pride board member Virginia Solomon said people from all over the Wasatch Back attend the event.
“It's really a bummer with the passage of HB77 that the state is deciding that it wants to restrict the free speech of local communities to be able to kind of declare their own values because that's really what this flag-raising is, right? Park City values its LGBTQ+ community, and the flag raising shows it,” Solomon said.
Summit Pride is now coordinating a “Raise the Flag” effort instead. The nonprofit will supply free pride flags to individuals and businesses to display throughout Pride Month instead of raising the flag.
“We just want to show everyone that we might be missing from a couple of city and county flag poles, but that the residences, the businesses in Park City, in the basin, in larger Summit County, that they recognize that just because you don't fly the flags for a month from city or county flag poles, that doesn't mean that the LGBTQ+ community isn't here and isn't valuable,” Solomon said.
There are three size options community members can sign up for. Click here to sign up for a flag.
The Park City Council also expressed its desire to find a way to continue to show its support for the LGBTQ+ community at its meeting Thursday, March 13. Council member Ed Parisian suggested changing the city’s logo to include a rainbow.
"They haven't banned rainbows. We all grew up rainbows: hope, future, promise,” he said. “I'm wondering if there's a way, I think I've seen this, but we can incorporate rainbows into our official city logo or motto so God forbid we don't break the law by putting a rainbow flag up.”
Parisian said rainbows are a universal symbol of equality and inclusion.
Other council members weren’t sure about the idea. However, they expressed enthusiastic support in finding other ways to make LGBTQ+ Parkites and visitors feel welcome.
"We are still working to understand the parameters of the HB77, but our commitment to inclusivity remains unchanged,” Park City Municipal spokesperson Clayton Scrivner said. “Park City is dedicated to the safety, dignity, and rights of all our residents, and our work to foster an environment where everyone feels valued and respected continues.”
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW. For a full list, click here.
