SAlt Lake City – UTAH has become the first state to ban LGBTQ + pride flags in schools and all government buildings after the republican governor announced that it allowed the ban on non -sub -brewed flag exhibitions to become the law without its signature.
Governor Spencer Cox, who made this announcement Thursday evening, said that he continued to be seriously concerned about politics, but has chosen not to reject it because his veto would probably be replaced by the legislature under republican control.
From May 7, states or local government buildings will be sentenced to a fine of $ 500 per day for having stolen any flag other than the flag of the United States, the state of Utah state, military flags or a short list of others approved by legislators. Political flags supporting a certain candidate or party, such as the flags of the signature of President Donald Trump “renders America again”, are not authorized.
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The new law could stir up the conflict between the State and its largest city. The buildings of the city of Salt Lake City Liberal generally honor the month of pride every June by displaying flags which celebrate its large LGBTQ +population. Local leaders have illuminated the Salt Lake City building and the county in Rainbow Lights to protest against the flag ban every night since the Legislative Assembly sent it to the Cox office.
Andrew Wittenberg, spokesperson for the office of the mayor of Salt Lake City, Erin Mendenhall, said that their lawyers assess the law and that the capital does not yet have information on what it will do once the law will take effect.
The republican sponsors of the bill, representative Trevor Lee and Senator Dan McCay, said that he was supposed to encourage the “political neutrality” of teachers and other government employees. The opponents argued that it aims to erase the expression LGBTQ + and to remove the authority of cities and cities which do not align themselves politically with the republican legislature.
In a letter to the legislative leaders explaining its decision, Cox declared that he agreed with the “underlying intention” of the bill to make classrooms politically neutral, but thought that it was going too far in the regulation of local governments. He also noted that by focusing closely on flags, the law does not prevent other political displays such as posters or lighting.
“For our LGBTQ community, I know that recent legislation has been difficult,” said Cox. “Politics can sometimes be a bit of a blood sport and I know that we have had our disagreements. I want you to know that I love you and that I appreciate you and I am grateful that you are part of our state. I know that these words can sound hollow to many of you, but please, I know that I sincerely think them. ”
Cox’s decision occurred a few hours after the Sundance Film Festival announced that he was leaving his house four decades in Park City, Utah, for Boulder, Colorado. The draft bill created eleventh hour tensions when some residents feared that he was pushing the first independent film festival in the country. The festival leaders said that state policy had not finally influenced their conservative Utah in Liberal Colorado. However, they did it. Make “ethical values and actions” one of their criteria in a national research of a new house and referred to Boulder in their ad as a “welcoming environment”.
The Utah flag law goes further than that signed last week in Idaho which only applies to schools. But the republicans of Idaho also advance a distinct bill to prohibit the government’s buildings of the display of certain flags.
Florida legislators have advanced a proposal for the ban on pride and others who represent political points of view in schools and public buildings after having failed similar measures in the last two legislative sessions. Some federal agencies, including the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, have also limited, flags can fly in their facilities.
