Utah's organized and online LGBTQ youth are ready for a bully like Pride flag-banning Rep. Trevor Lee.
Small Lake City
By Cat Palmer
Oh, Trevor Lee. Sweet, clueless Trevor Lee. In his quest to erase LGBTQ visibility from schools with his Pride flag ban, HB77, he seems to have forgotten one very important fact—teenagers in 2025 are not to be messed with. They are smart. They are organized. And they have memes sharper than Lee's legislative skills.
The moment HB77 passed, the teens didn't cry, they didn't back down—they strategized. While Lee was busy celebrating his "victory" against flags (because, you know, that's the biggest issue facing Utah schools, right?), students were already 10 steps ahead.
They met that same day, brainstorming ways to expose the absurdity of Lee's anti-flag bill. And let's be honest, it's not hard.
For starters, they've dubbed Lee "Swiss Cheese Man," because HB77 has more holes than an overused biology lab sieve. The bill bans non-governmental flags, but does that mean no more Utah Jazz flags? No "Don't Tread on Me" flags? No Back the Blue flags? Lee's legislative masterpiece is so riddled with contradictions that even a high school debate team could tear it apart before lunch period.
And then there's the rectangle problem. One particularly savage group of students wants to know if Trevor is aware that other shapes exist. Because if the rule is about banning flags, what happens if students start displaying Pride-themed triangles? Or hexagons? Or, I don't know, a well-placed circle? Lee may think he's wiped away LGBTQ visibility, but these kids? They see loopholes the way he sees an opportunity to grandstand.
But wait, there's more. Lee didn't just threaten teachers with consequences for non-compliance, he underestimated an entire generation that grew up watching adults fumble their rights away. These kids know how to organize, how to mobilize and how to hold power accountable. The same students who have navigated online activism, climate strikes and gun-violence walkouts are not about to let one mediocre politician dictate how they express themselves.
And just to make things even clearer, Salt Lake City officials wasted no time responding. Within days of the bill's passage, they raised the Pride flag high over the City and County Building. It was an unmistakable statement: Utah's queer community is here to stay, and no flimsy piece of legislation is going to change that. If Lee thought his bill would quietly pass without resistance, he was sorely mistaken.
HB77 might as well have been a bat signal for Utah teens to come together and outwit a lawmaker who clearly didn't anticipate the level of resistance he'd awaken. So, grab your popcorn. Watch as the students drag Lee through the court of public opinion, one viral post at a time.
If he thought this was going to be an easy win, he's in for a rude awakening. Never pick a fight with the youth of 2025. You will lose.
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