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Trevor Lee, a Republican lawmaker in Utah has proposed new legislation that would ban the display of flags on government property. According to this proposal, Pride flags would be banned from being displayed in public schools and government buildings, while Nazi and Confederate flags could still be permitted for “educational purposes.”
“There are instances where, in classrooms, you have curriculum that is needed to use flags such as World War 2, civil war,” Trevor Lee told the House committee, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “ 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.”
The legislation would also allow for the use of a “historic version of a flag … that is temporarily displayed for educational purposes,” which Lee said during the hearing would include the Confederate and Nazi flags. This therefore means that Nazi and Confederate flags can be shown in class if it’s a part of a teacher’s curriculum.
“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 told the committee. “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 other another as it pertains to political beliefs.”
Lee also assured parents that they have the right to sue a school if the law is violated. After receiving backlash for his statements, Lee argued that there is a difference between displaying a flag and teaching the ideals of the said flag. “There is a difference between displaying flags in curriculum when you’re teaching on them,” Lee said, per the Salt Lake, Utah-based outlet. “You don’t censor history here. That’s not what we’re doing.”
