The Associated Students of the University of Wyoming, or ASUW, will propose a resolution to the Student Senate to fly the rainbow LGBT pride flag on campus in June for Pride Month.
Chris Ryan, director of governmental affairs at ASUW, said the authors of the resolution wanted to show support for the LGBT community in light of recent and historic events.
“For example, the Pulse Nightclub was brought up, and Wyoming does have a history, a very unfortunate history, regarding LGBT+ rights. They believe this is changing and that this would be a good way to show solidarity and to show that change publicly,” he said.
Ryan said the resolution has nothing to do with an incident on the first day of the spring semester, when someone taped down the American flag on Prexy’s Pasture and flew a pride flag in its place, but they have already heard some opposition to the resolution.
“I think most of it is based in a misunderstanding of the intention of the bill,” said Ryan. “The authors have already created an amendment to address some of the concerns that have been heard. We’ve heard a lot of people who believe that this is about replacing it or superseding the American flag. That’s not the intention of this bill at all.”
Ryan said the wording of the bill was intentionally vague because the authors didn’t yet know the best place on campus to fly the flag.
The ASUW Senate will have a first reading of the resolution Tuesday at 7 p.m.
