SALT LAKE CITY — This Pride Month, McCall Tingey’s heart is all in.
“It feels like Pride,” Tingey said.
Tingey is a first-time volunteer with Project Rainbow. She’s one of more than 100 volunteers who staked 2,700 pride flags over the weekend. Despite the state’s ban on pride flags displayed on government property and in public schools, people in Utah are waving their flags in the air.
“It feels really sad that it’s such a big deal right now that there’s so many people fighting against just equal rights and human rights,” she said.
In March, Utah became the first state in the U.S. to ban the display of pride flags in public schools and government buildings. In May, Salt Lake City adopted three new official city flags that incorporate elements that represent the LGBTQ+ and transgender community, as well as elements of the Juneteenth flag.
Rev. Curtis Price with the First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City said their pride flags were stolen Saturday night.
“I know for the LGBTQ folks in the community, it’s a little jarring to have the flags there one day and then know that someone came along and deliberately pulled them out, that’s frightening for people who have experienced religious trauma,” he said.
As anti-LGBTQ+ bills are introduced across the U.S., pride events have been canceled or scaled back due to lack of funding and political pressures.
“We proudly fly those flags because they can’t be flown in other spaces,” Rev. Price said. “We feel a particular responsibility to continue to raise those banners, they’ve become a symbol of their dignity and their worth and humanity.”
Rev. Price said they’ve seen more vandalism recently.
“We’ve had them ripped up and thrown down on the ground. I think the last couple of years; it’s been more aggressive than it has been in other years,” he said Sunday.
As for Tingey, she’s certainly feeling the Pride this year.
“I think it’s so important to use your voice and stand up for what you believe in,” she said.
