Trevor Lee (politician)

Trevor Lee
Lee in 2025
Member of the Utah House of Representatives
from the 16th district
Assumed office
January 1, 2023[1]
Preceded byStephen Handy
Personal details
PartyRepublican
EducationWeber State University

Trevor Lee is an American politician serving as a Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives from the 16th district. He assumed office on January 1, 2023.[2][3] He is known for his legislation attacking the LGBTQ community and his association with the alt-right "DezNat" movement.[4]

Early life and education

Lee graduated from Davis High School and has a degree from Weber State University.[5]

Controversial 2025 legislation

Lee was a sponsor of HB77,[6] a bill that Lee said "would ban Pride flags from schools" and local government buildings, while allowing Nazi and Confederate flags to be displayed in Utah classrooms for educational purposes.[7][8][9] The bill became law without Gov. Spencer Cox's signature and went into effect May 7, 2025. The law places responsibility for enforcement upon the state auditor.[10]

Lee was a co-sponsor on the 2025 HB81[11] bill that banned fluoride in public water systems.[12] This law will make Utah the first state to ban fluoride in drinking water. The bill was opposed by the American Dental Association. Opponents of the bill noted that research has found that water fluoridation prevents about 25% of tooth decay,[13] and warned that the bill may disproportionately affect low-income residents.

Controversial 2026 legislation

Lee has sponsored HB 183 as of January 2026. The bill would:

  • Strip out the word “gender” and replace it with “sex” in many areas of state law, including in the state’s anti-discrimination protections for housing, employment and crime victims.
  • Ban changes to the sex designation field of a birth certificate.
  • Require state agencies when making administrative rules to refer to “biological sex” by using the term sex instead of gender.
  • Ban school districts and certain providers licensed by the Department of Health and Human Services from assigning a transgender employee to a role that interacts with children.
  • In child custody proceedings, require a court to view a parent’s non-support of a transgender child’s gender identity as a “factor to favor awarding custody to that parent.”
  • Remove “gender identity” from a provision that allows the Utah Division of Motor Vehicles to refuse personalized license plates that disparage a list of groups (which also currently includes race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.).[14]

Additionally, Lee has sponsored HB 287 as of January 2026. The bill's highlights include:

  • "Repeal[ing] the driving privilege card program prohibits the Driver License Division from issuing a driving privilege card on or after May 6, 2026;
  • makes technical changes throughout the Utah Code related to the repeal of the driving privilege card program;
  • requires law enforcement to report to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security if an individual who is unlawfully present in the United states is involved in a motor vehicle accident"[15]

Twitter account controversy

In 2022, The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Lee was behind a Twitter account that promoted election and coronavirus conspiracy theories and attacked women and LGBTQ individuals.[4] These events occurred after Lee had previously made transphobic comments and used a slur for transgender people on a Utah podcast, for which he had apologized and "erased it from [his] vocabulary."[16]

Pride Month controversy

In June 2025, during Pride Month, the Utah Mammoth NHL hockey team posted a message on X that said "Happy Pride!" with the team logo rendered in the colors of the Pride Flag. Lee replied to the tweet, claiming "Utahns overwhelmingly don't support pride month." He then said to "watch for some significant legislation this next session that pushes back onto these woke groups!" When KSL-TV requested an interview with Lee, Lee declined and would not discuss the legislation, saying "you'll have to wait and see" and that the Utah Legislature "will be putting a stop to entities that will take taxpayer money from pushing political agendas." In a later tweet, he claimed "'Pride' is about promoting the social acceptance of gay sex, transgender child mutilation and various other forms of iniquity. Its premise is that they are not just not sinful, but worthy of celebration."[17]

A 2024 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 86% of Utahns expressed support for LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections.[18]

Personal life

Trevor Lee lives in Layton, Utah, with his wife Kaitlin and their four children.[5]

2023

Bill Status
HB 165- Firearm Discharge on Private Property Amendments Governor signed 3/20/2023
HB 270- School Cellphone Usage Amendments House filed 3/3/2023
HB 283- Unemployment Insurance Amendments House filed 3/3/2023
HB 289- Blockchain Provider Registration Governor signed 3/13/2023
HCR 7- Concurrent Resolution Supporting the Creation of the Great Salt Lake Sentinel Landscape Governor Signed 3/14/2023

2024

Bill Status
HB 118- Prohibition of Production of Private Keys Governor signed 3/18/2024
HB 121- Educator Background Check Amendments Governor signed 3/12/2024
HB 123- Vaccine Disclosure Amendments House filed 3/1/2024
HB 165- Federal Law Enforcement Amendments Governor signed 3/13/2024
HB 170- Unemployment Insurance Amendments Governor signed 3/13/2024
HB 455- Education Industry Employee Privacy House filed 3/1/2024
HB 517- Half-day Kindergarten Amendments Governor signed 3/18/2024
HB 549- Product Disclosure Requirements House filed 3/1/2024
HJR 12- Joint Resolution on the Illegal Immigration Crisis House filed 3/1/2024

2025

Bill Status
HB 77- Flag Display Amendments Became law without Governor signature 3/27/2025
HB 84- Vaccine Amendments Governor signed 3/26/2025
HB 114- Architects Licensing Act Amendments Governor signed 3/25/2025
HB 124- Education Industry Employee Privacy Governor signed 3/26/2025
HB 183- Noncitizen Restricted Person Amendments Governor signed 3/25/2025
HB 270- Voter Registration Records Amendments House filed 3/7/2025
HB 423- Voting Registration Amendments House filed 3/7/2025

References

  1. ^ "Trevor Lee". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  2. ^ "Trevor Lee". Utah House of Representatives. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  3. ^ "House Members". Utah House of Representatives. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "GOP candidate Trevor Lee ran a secret Twitter account that attacked LGBTQ people and Utah Gov. Cox. Now he's been rebuked by Republican leadership". The Salt Lake Tribune. September 23, 2022. Archived from the original on March 5, 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Voter Guide". The City Journal. May 31, 2024. Archived from the original on October 12, 2024.
  6. ^ "H.B. 77 Flag Display Amendments". March 29, 2025.
  7. ^ Limehouse, Jonathan. "Utah bill would ban Pride flags in public schools but allow Nazi flags for educational use". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on March 30, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
  8. ^ Flag Display Amendments 2025 GENERAL SESSION STATE OF UTAH. https://le.utah.gov/Session/2025/bills/introduced/HB0077.pdf
  9. ^ Hudson, Vanessa (March 1, 2025). "Bill to ban pride flags from Utah schools advances to Senate". Utah News Dispatch. Archived from the original on March 29, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
  10. ^ "Utah becomes first state to ban LGBTQ pride flags in government buildings and schools". CBS News. March 28, 2025. Archived from the original on March 31, 2025.
  11. ^ "H.B. 81 Fluoride Amendments". March 27, 2025.
  12. ^ "Utah will be the first state to ban fluoride in drinking water". AP News. March 10, 2025. Archived from the original on March 27, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
  13. ^ "CDC Scientific Statement on Community Water Fluoridation". Center for Disease Control. May 15, 2024. Archived from the original on March 24, 2025. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  14. ^ "Anti-transgender bill among 'most harmful and outrageous' Utah LGBTQ+ advocates have seen". Utah News Dispatch. January 16, 2026.
  15. ^ https://le.utah.gov/Session/2026/bills/static/HB0287.html
  16. ^ "Republican candidate for Utah Legislature made transphobic comments on a conservative podcast". The Salt Lake Tribune. April 29, 2022. Archived from the original on March 25, 2025.
  17. ^ "GOP lawmaker threatens 'significant legislation' after Mammoth, Jazz celebrate Pride month". Archived from the original on June 5, 2025.
  18. ^ "Survey shows Utahns back LGBTQ nondiscrimination more than national average". March 24, 2024. Archived from the original on June 3, 2025.