1,400 Trans Pride Flags Will Appear Across Utah For Transgender Day Of Visibility
The statewide campaign will bring thousands of symbols of support to neighborhoods as Utahns show solidarity with the trans community.
Featured image by DBenitostock via Getty
With Transgender Day of Visibility approaching on March 31, volunteers across Utah are preparing to place more than 1,400 transgender pride flags in front yards across the state, turning neighborhoods into visible signs of support for trans and gender-diverse communities.
The effort is organized by Project Rainbow, a nonprofit dedicated to uplifting LGBTQ+ people throughout Utah through visibility campaigns, community funding, and public support. Each year, the group runs several flag campaigns tied to key moments for the LGBTQ+ community. The Transgender Day of Visibility campaign is one of its largest.
In the weeks leading up to the date, volunteers are working behind the scenes to assemble hundreds of flags before they are distributed statewide.
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“We have to assemble about 1,800 flags that we know will be going out, and so we’re also looking at flags that have been torn and replacing them with better flags, because we want to make sure that we’re nice and spiffy for showing our visibility,” Project Rainbow’s Jacey Thornton told ABC4.
Roughly 100 volunteers help organize and prepare the flags, while another 200 to 300 volunteers will fan out across neighborhoods to place them in yards on March 22, about a week before Transgender Day of Visibility. The flags remain in place for about a week before volunteers return to collect them.
Thornton compared the effort to familiar community traditions: “For our visibility flag campaigns, we stake flags all over northern Utah and southern Utah as well as in September, but our volunteers are much like the Boy Scouts who would go and stake flags for American holidays.”
Project Rainbow estimates that its visibility flag campaigns have collectively represented more than $400,000 invested back into LGBTQ+ communities across Utah. The funds raised help support local events, organizations, and gatherings throughout the year.
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One group that has benefited from this support is We’re Here, Utah, which hosts social events for LGBTQ+ people and allies in Utah County. According to organizers, attendance at their events has grown dramatically since receiving support from Project Rainbow grants.
“It’s so crucial that these flags go for our community,” Thornton said. “Project Rainbow, we’re just one way for people to stand up with pride and to raise a flag of safety, and so while we’re continuing to see legislation and policies both at the federal and state level attacking our community, it’s more important than ever before to put your flag up.”
Sign-ups for the campaign remain open until March 15. On March 31, Project Rainbow will also partner with Salt Lake City to raise the Sego Visibility flag for the second time, followed by a community celebration hosted with the Utah Trans Coalition at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City.
