'Trans lives matter': Utahns celebrate Trans Day of Visibility with world's largest transgender flag

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Thousands gathered in Salt Lake City Saturday for Transgender Day of Visibility celebration.
The event featured the world's largest transgender flag, organized by Utah Pride Center.
Participants hope to inspire others amidst new law banning pride flags in schools.

SALT LAKE CITY — Thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in downtown Salt Lake City for Transgender Day of Visibility, an annual event on March 31 celebrating the lives of trans and nonbinary people.

This included unfurling the world's largest transgender flag, a symbol at the center of a controversial new law set to take effect later this spring.

The event was organized by the Utah Pride Center and The Glitter Foundation.

"Events like this are really important to let people in our community and in the trans community know that there are people there that support them, that are there to fight for them and care about them, and that they'll show up in incredible numbers," said Chad Call, executive director at Utah Pride Center.

The event started with a rally at the Utah State Capitol, then a march down State Street with transgender Utahns and allies carrying a massive 200-by-30-foot flag. This follows the recent passing of HB77, which bans all but a select few flags, including pride flags, in public schools and on government property.

Protesters carry flags and signs in support of trans rights in front of the state capitol on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Photo: Emma Benson, KSL-TV)

"Even though our governments may not be able to fly pride flags or trans flags, we can," Call said.

September McKinnon was one of those carrying the flag.

"I'm out here today because I am a big advocate for trans rights," she said. "My goal is for people to feel like they aren't alone, and that love wins."

Those marching today said they hope they'll inspire others to use their voices.

"We just need to be willing to stand up and fight our fights, and this is my way of doing it," said Colton Stettler.

"I grew up in Utah and I thought I was the only queer person, and I was so wrong," said Angel Showalter. "It's really touching just to see the visibility for a community that just wants to exist and thrive and live. Trans lives matter. They always have, they always will."

Another Transgender Day of Visibility celebration will be held on Monday, March 31, from 5-9 p.m. in West Valley City.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Emma Benson

Emma Benson joined the KSL team in October 2023. A native of Salt Lake City, she’s happy to be back home in the Beehive State. Before joining KSL, Emma worked in Idaho Falls, Idaho at the dual CBS/ABC affiliate, where she anchored the morning show as well as produced and anchored the noon show, and reported on the side. She interviewed the governor multiple times, covered the Lori Vallow trial and the University of Idaho murders, interviewed Ukrainian refugees, and covered several live events. Emma is excited to be primarily covering health/medical stories, including producing the weekly “Your Life Your Health” segment. Emma graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism. During her time at BYU, she was a reporter for the student newspaper, the Daily Universe, and worked as a reporter, anchor, and producer for Newsline, an award-winning student-produced newscast. When she’s not reporting, Emma enjoys playing pickleball, traveling (16 countries and counting!), and country swing dancing.