Utah House kills bill banning LGBTQ+ Pride flags and political views from classrooms

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah teachers will be free to display LGBTQ+ Pride flags and other social, political or religious imagery after the state House blocked a bill on Monday that would have banned teachers from using their position to promote or disparage certain beliefs.

The Republican-led chamber defeated the proposal in a 39-32 vote as they raced to address hundreds of outstanding bills during the final week of the 2024 legislative session. Both Democrats and Republicans criticized the bill’s vague language and warned that it could stymie important lessons in critical thinking.

Educators would have been prohibited under the bill from encouraging a student to reconsider their sexual orientation or gender, and they could have faced punishment for affirming or refusing to affirm a student’s identity. Challenging a student’s political viewpoints or religious beliefs, even within the context of an educational exercise, also could have left a teacher vulnerable to a lawsuit.

Some teachers pleaded with lawmakers earlier this month to reject the bill, which they said would make them afraid to speak openly in the classroom. But Rep. Jeff Stenquist, a Draper Republican and the bill’s primary sponsor, encouraged educators to view it as a tool to improve trust in the state’s education system.

Although teachers would have to be more careful to filter out their personal beliefs, he said they would have a new resource to ease parents’ worries about what their children are being taught in Utah schools.

“Unfortunately, there is a perception out there that our students are being pushed toward particular ideologies, or religious viewpoints or whatever it might be,” Stenquist said Monday. “And this bill now gives us the ability to say