Salt Lake City has gone so far as to create new flag designs, while Boise, the capital of Idaho, made the traditional pride flag one of its official city flags. The move in Utah came hours before a ban on unsanctioned flag displays took effect Wednesday.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s  said “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 and the legacy of pain and progress that they have endured.”

Supporters said the laws would encourage political neutrality from teachers and other government employees. Opponents argued they aimed to erase LGBTQ+ expression and wrest authority from cities and towns that did not align politically with the Republican Legislatures. The pride flag has regularly flown over Boise’s City Hall for years, and Mayor Lauren McLean kept the flag aloft even after Idaho’s law took effect. McLean said she believed the law was unenforceable. In fact, last week, she responded to the Idaho law by issuing a proclamation retroactively making the pride flag an official city flag, along with a flag honoring organ donors. It allowed both to be flown alongside Boise’s traditional blue flag featuring the Capitol building and the slogan “City of Trees.”

But Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador recently warned he would ask lawmakers to add an enforcement mechanism in the 2026 legislative session.

Under the Utah law, state or local government buildings can be fined $500 a day for flying any flag other than the U.S. flag, the state flag, a city or county flag, military flags, Olympic and Paralympic flags, official college flags or tribal flags. Political flags are not allowed.  The law was passed in Mrach and the Republican Gov. Spencer Cox let the bill become law without his signature. He said he thought it went too far in regulating local governments but chose not to reject it because his veto would likely be overridden by the Legislature