Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Salt Lake City adopted three new flags on top of its primary flag to bypass HB77.
- The flags incorporate the sego lily logo with Juneteenth, Pride and transgender flags.
- Mayor Erin Mendenhall says the move emphasizes diversity; bill sponsors voiced their displeasure online.
SALT LAKE CITY — Leaders of Utah's capital city voted to add three new city flags, all incorporating designs not allowed through a new state flag law, to sidestep the measure hours before it goes into law.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall unveiled three new city flag designs to members of the Salt Lake City Council Tuesday evening, as she explained how the city plans to move forward in the wake of HB77 on the eve of the bill becoming law.
The new flags would add the sego lily logo from Salt Lake City's city flag to the Juneteenth, Progress Pride and transgender flags. All three flags were not included in the list of flags approved by law to be flown outside government buildings and schools. The new flags would not replace the city's primary flag, which was adopted in 2020.
"These city flags represent the ideas and principles Salt Lakers know as core tenets — belonging and acceptance, or better stated: Diversity. Equity. Inclusion," she said, sitting next to all four flags in a Salt Lake City Council work session chamber.
"I have given this so much thought, and I do not do this lightly. My sincere intent is not to provoke or cause division; my intent is to represent our city's values and honor our dear, diverse residents who make up this beautiful city," she added. "Let the sego lily represent the beauty and resilience of everyone who lives here, no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, faith, income or sexual orientation."
Salt Lake City Council members voted Tuesday night to approve the last-second measure. All seven members shared turns explaining their vote after lining up to take a photo in front of the next flags earlier in the day.
"Today is an act of love ... for every member of our community," said Councilwoman Sarah Young before the vote.
HB77 becomes law on Wednesday, and lists which flags can be flown at schools and other government buildings. U.S., Utah, county, municipal, tribal, military and Olympic flags are among the approved flags, while flags representing the LGBTQ communities and the Juneteenth flag — used to celebrate the holiday commemorating when the last slaves were freed after the Civil War — are not included.
Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, the bill's sponsor, said the measure is about maintaining political neutrality in public spaces. Those opposed, including Salt Lake City, argued that it targeted certain minority groups and might violate government free speech. For years, the city has flown Juneteenth, Progress Pride and transgender flags outside City Hall during specific days or months.
HB77 became "one of the most divisive bills" from the 2025 legislative session, as Gov. Spencer Cox put it. The governor ultimately declined to sign the bill but also allowed it to become law, explaining in a letter that it passed with a veto-proof majority.
"I continue to have serious concerns with this bill. However, because a veto would be overridden, I have decided to allow the bill to go into law without my signature and urge lawmakers to consider common-sense solutions that address the bill's numerous flaws," he wrote.
Salt Lake City leaders raised a Pride Progress flag and lit the top of the Salt Lake City-County Building in rainbow colors on the final day of the legislative session. The flag was still flying as of Tuesday, ahead of the new law.
Behind the scenes, city leaders reviewed the bill to determine next steps. Salt Lake City Council Chairman Chris Wharton said that conversations began days after the session ended.
City officials devised the idea of putting the sego lily — a symbol of the primary city flag — on all three flags it once flew at some point in those discussions, turning them into city flags.
"We simply looked at HB77 and discovered there is, indeed, a way for cities to approve additional official flags," Mendenhall said, noting there's nothing in statute barring a city from having more than one flag and that the state has four official flags.
It's unclear what will happen next, but Lee caught wind of the city's move Tuesday evening.
"Does Salt Lake City really want to play these games? Good luck!" he posted on X.
Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, the bill's floor sponsor, posted a photo of a flag with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a sego lily on X, along with the message: "Excited that (the mayor) and (City Council) will also be flying this new SLC flag so that all historic constituents will be 'seen.'"
Only two people spoke on the measure during the City Council meeting on Tuesday night, both in support of the city.
Mendenhall said she knows "retribution" is possible, but she said the city wanted to "stand up for our values." She contends the measure helps the city comply with the law while still raising the flags it has in the past.
Wharton agrees.
"These are the flags that have flown above City Hall and Washington Square for years and years, and we're just trying to find a way to make that continue," he said. "We're not trying to do anything particularly new or exciting."
