SALT LAKE CITY — The new Utah state flag is now being flown over the Capitol building.
On Wednesday morning, Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, who sponsored the bill, joined Governor Spencer Cox, Senate President J. Stuart Adams, House Speaker Brad Wilson and other state leaders in raising it over the Utah State Capitol.
"We decided to get it up and get it moving and show it off on this beautiful day," Sen. McCay told FOX 13 News shortly after the flag was raised.
The new flag came out of a lengthy public design process and was adopted by the legislature earlier this year. Its design incorporates Utah's iconic beehive in the center with white representing northern Utah's mountains and Native American tribes and red rock canyons of southern Utah.
The new flag is already growing in popularity with homes and businesses starting to fly it. Sen. McCay said some flag manufacturers report a backlog of orders of the new design.
The old flag, now designated as a "historic" flag, has been criticized as a "state seal on a blue bedsheet." In a nod to opponents of the new flag, Gov. Cox issued an order that it be flown below the historic one at the Capitol.
"I'm hoping that this something that can definitely bring us together," the governor said.
But critics of the new flag, who have called it "woke" and accused state leaders of "erasing history," have tried to overturn the law. They ran an unsuccessful citizen referendum and are now attempting a citizen ballot initiative. They must gather more than 134,000 signatures by February to qualify for the November ballot.
