A bill that would ban Pride flags in government buildings – including schools – in Utah while allowing Nazi or Confederate flags to be flown has cleared a key hurdle in the state legislature.

The Utah House Education Committee favorably recommended the bill, H.B. 77, with all the Republicans on the committee voting in favor of it and the two Democrats – state Reps. Sahara Hayes and Carol Moss – voting against it.

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H.B. 77 lists the flags that can be flown at state and local government buildings in the state, which include the U.S. flag, the Utah state flag, flags for other countries, military flags, Native American tribe flags, official college and university flags, and a “historic version of a flag… that is temporarily displayed for educational purposes.”

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The bill was introduced by state Rep. Trevor Lee (R), and he said that that last part about a “historic version of a flag” would include the Nazi flag and the Confederate flag.

“There are instances where in classrooms, you have curriculum that is needed to use flags such as World War II, Civil War,” he told the committee yesterday, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. “You may have a Nazi flag. You may have a Confederate flag, and so you are allowed to display those flags… as part of the curriculum, and that is okay.”

But the Pride flag would be completely banned because, he said, it pushes a “political belief.”

“We are starting to see increasingly more hostile-type interactions between different political factions that we have within our society, and that is no different than what we’re starting to see a lot within our education system,” Lee said. “Our schools should be a place for children to learn, to not feel like they are being pushed or seen as agendas in one way [or] another as it pertains to political beliefs.”

In a later phone call, Lee claimed that he never mentioned the Nazi flag and said that it would be banned if his bill were to pass. He then said that there’s “a difference between displaying flags in curriculum” and said that schools shouldn’t “censor history.”

Several people testified at the hearing, including a father who said that his son saw a Pride flag in a school computer lab and he was offended because the Pride flag “sends a clear message about marriage.”

“It also sends a message about gender, that a boy can become a girl and a girl can become a boy. This message conflicts with my family’s religious beliefs.”

Millie Dworkin of the Salt Lake Center for Science Education spoke out against the bill.

“This ban is unconstitutional and only serves as a means of control over the people,” she said. “You all argue semantics, but you all know this is wrong and immoral. Queer people commit suicide at a higher rate than everybody else.”

“This is not because they are inherently prone to commit suicide due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. It is because of how they are treated. If you pass this, you will have queer blood on your hands.”

H.B. 77 originally applied only to schools but was expanded to include government buildings.

Despite Rep. Lee’s statements, the Pride flag also has a history. Developed in 1978 for San Francisco Gay Freedom Day by Gilbert Baker, the Pride flag gained popularity after the assassination of gay San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk. Since then, the rainbow flag has been flown at Pride and other important events for decades and around the world, and the White House was even lit up in Pride flag colors in 2015 to celebrate the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized marriage equality in all 50 states.

A similar flag bill was introduced in the Utah legislature last year. It passed the state House of Representatives but failed to advance out of a state Senate subcommittee.

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