The Utah State Legislature accredited a measure that bans the show of all however accredited flags in faculties and authorities buildings, a divisive transfer that civil rights teams have mentioned will undermine free expression for L.G.B.T.Q. folks and their supporters.
The measure, which grew to become regulation on Thursday, permits solely flags explicitly exempt from the ban — together with the USA flag, the Utah state flag and army flags — to be displayed. Different flags, such because the Delight flag and people supporting political causes, will probably be barred from being flown at authorities buildings.
The brand new regulation is likely one of the most restrictive handed by a state to manipulate the show of flags, in what has grow to be a polarizing debate largely targeted on the Delight flag and different expressions of L.G.B.T.Q. assist.
Different states, equivalent to Idaho, have handed restrictions on the show of flags in faculties, whereas lawmakers in Florida are contemplating related proposals. Supporters of the measure have framed it as a solution to make faculties and authorities buildings much less political.
“Tax payer funded entities shouldn’t be selling political agendas,” Trevor Lee, a Republican lawmaker who sponsored the invoice, said on social media on Friday. “It is a huge win for Utah.”
In a letter on Thursday, Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, mentioned he had “critical considerations” concerning the invoice. He mentioned he had allowed it to grow to be regulation with out his signature as a result of his veto would have been overridden.
“Dad and mom are rightly upset after they deliver their children to publicly funded faculties and see culture-war symbols in a spot that needs to be apolitical,” he mentioned, including that he supported “political neutrality” in lecture rooms.
Underneath the regulation, flags representing any political affiliations could be banned, however Mr. Lee has previously singled out Pride flags. Violations of the regulation, which is efficient on Might 7, would end in a $500 each day positive.
Rights teams in Utah have protested the invoice, calling it an try and repress political disagreement and self-expression.
The Utah Delight Middle said on social media on Friday that it was “deeply saddened” to see the invoice grow to be regulation.
“We acknowledge the ache, frustration and worry that many in our group are feeling at this second,” the middle mentioned. After the State Senate handed the invoice, the middle referred to as it “a deliberate try and erase L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ visibility from the general public sphere.”
The middle, which organizes the annual Utah Delight Pageant, was planning a rally celebrating transgender visibility on the steps of the Utah State Capitol on Saturday, and mentioned it might unfurl a 200-foot-by-30-foot model of the transgender flag.
Equality Utah, an advocacy group, said that it had lobbied for language within the invoice that reaffirmed protections in opposition to discrimination for college students. The group efficiently sought to take away a provision from the invoice that will have allowed mother and father to sue academics over the show of flags.
“It units a harmful precedent that the state can silence the speech rights of native governments and makes the invoice constitutionally suspect,” Equality Utah mentioned. “We’re L.G.B.T.Q. Utahns. That is our dwelling. That is our nation. We’re not going wherever.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah urged the governor in a letter this month to veto the invoice.
“The federal government shouldn’t be within the enterprise of banning symbols that assist folks really feel seen and welcomed,” the A.C.L.U. mentioned, including that academics, faculty boards and native governments ought to have the liberty to find out what conduct mirrored their values.
Mr. Cox referred to as on legislators to revise the regulation, saying that its utility on native governments went too far, and that the deal with banning flags wouldn’t maintain different political shows, equivalent to posters, indicators and drawings, out of lecture rooms.
“All this invoice does is add extra gas to the hearth,” he mentioned.
