It wasn’t long after Utah’s 2025 law barring pride flags and other unapproved banners from flying on government buildings took effect that the complaints started to unfurl.
It happened so fast that the state auditor, who was assigned to investigate and enforce the ban, hadn’t set up a system for tracking or probing the complaints.
The first recorded complaint came toward the end of May 2025, a resident upset about a “Thin Blue Line” flag — the flag showing support for law enforcement that resembles a black-and-white version of the Stars and Stripes but with one blue stripe.
The flag was allegedly displayed at the Academy for Math, Engineering & Science, a charter school in Murray. A representative of the auditor’s office visited the school, walked the campus and saw no banned flags.
That was how those initial complaints were investigated. A staffer would drive to the location and look for prohibited flags. That proved time consuming and was eventually abandoned not long after the office received a complaint of a prohibited flag displayed at the University of Utah’s satellite campus in Incheon, South Korea.
Now the inquiries typically consist of a letter or a phone call.
Read the full article by Robert Gehrke at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.