March 29 (UPI) — Utah became the first state in the country to ban flying the LGBTQ Pride flag in all public school and government buildings, after Gov. Spencer Cox let the bill pass into law.
Cox did not sign the Flag Display Amendments legislation, which “prohibits a government entity or employee of a government entity from displaying a flagin or on the grounds of government property except certain exempted flags.”
The governor also did not veto the bill, which passed through both Utah’s House and Senate and will now take effect on May 7.
Cox said that had he vetoed the bill, he expected Utah’s Republican supermajority legislature to override the decision.
“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,” Cox wrote in a letter to legislators earlier this week.
“In an attempt to make some kids feel more welcome, other kids feel less welcome,” he wrote.
The governor also said he had “serious concerns” about the legislation introduced by Republican State Rep. Trevor Lee and initially focused on school. Legislators later expanded it to include government buildings.
In addition to the U.S. flag, exceptions apply under the new law permitting buildings the display the Utah state flag, flags of Native American tribes, Olympic flags, military flags, flags of other countries and flags for colleges and universities.
“While I think it’s wrong for city and county officials to fly divisive flags, I believe that elections have consequences and the best way to stop that behavior is to elect people who believe differently. All this bill does is add more fuel to the fire,” Cox wrote in the letter.
“To those legislators who supported this bill. I’m sure it will not fix what you are trying to fix,” he added.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs banned the display of Pride flags at all Veterans Affairs facilities following a directive from the federal government.