Utah Transit Authority pulled Pride bus amid state lawmaker concern

• The bus featured rainbow colors and slogans like: "Ride with Pride;" "Move with Pride;" and "Work with Pride."
• Hours later, state Rep. Trevor Lee (R-Layton) quote tweeted the post, asking: "Why is @RideUTA using tax dollars on this?"
• "Is this appropriate? Tell us what you think below. @RideUTA who payed for this?" the Salt Lake County Republican Party also posted on Twitter.

State of play: Lee told Axios that UTA heard from state lawmakers last week who were concerned about the transit agency's participation in this year's Utah Pride Festival.

• He confirmed the Pride-themed bus' removal from the parade was a direct result of those discussions.
• "I will say that, as a [state] Legislature, we did get involved, and we did reach out to them," said Lee, declining to provide further detail about what was said.
• When asked why, Lee said he wanted "to protect both sides."

What they're saying: Utah Transit Authority spokesperson Carl Arky told Axios last Friday that "a decision was made" to switch out the bus for a Gillig, a battery-electric bus to showcase "the clean-air technology."

• Arky referred questions about the decision-making process to UTA's executive director Jay Fox.
• Fox was unavailable for an interview on Monday.

Details: UTA and dozens of its employees still participated in the parade. The agency also had a booth at the festival and offered free fares for attendees.

Of note: Spokespeople for the Utah House and Senate said they were unaware of who was involved in discussions with UTA.

• The Utah Pride Center, which organizes the festival, did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

Lee said he first learned about the Pride-wrapped bus after UTA promoted it on social media.

• "I thought if this is taxpayer money, it should not be going toward anything that is political, and it's not something that I feel like UTA needs to be involved with or even promoting as a government entity," he said.

Yes, but: The bus wrapping was donated ahead of last year's Pride Parade. It has since been used for several transit routes around Salt Lake City.

The other side: "The whole thing feels like overreach to me," said Utah state Rep. Sahara Hayes (D-Millcreek), the only openly gay lawmaker serving in the state Legislature. "It's our job to write laws. It's not our job to micromanage different organizations."

• Hayes said she remembers feeling a "breath of relief" after attending her first Pride festival as an "out" member of the LGBTQ+ community a couple years ago.

Context: Republican state lawmakers in the last two legislative sessions have advocated for and passed legislation that prohibits transgender girls from competing in school sports that match their gender identity and bans gender-affirming health care for youth.

• "It's been a very hard year for the LGBTQ+ community in Utah largely because of legislation that we passed," Hayes said.

The big picture: Many government entities and businesses nationwide have faced backlash for participating in Pride festivities as critics pedal unfounded accusations of grooming and sexualizing children.

• Lee said Pride is "trying to be pushed into every aspect of our lives."

Between the lines: This is only the second year that UTA has been a Pride festival sponsor, an event that draws tens of thousands of people annually.

Flashback: Last year, the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce denounced Zions Bank's decision to pull out of last year's Boise Pride Festival in Idaho after far-right supporters criticized the event's youth programming.