A Yosemite National Park employee was dismissed earlier this year after raising a transgender pride flag on El Capitan.
Shannon “SJ” Joslin, 35, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, said they were fired from their permanent park ranger position on Tuesday, Aug. 12, according to The New York Times and SFGATE.
In a statement on Instagram, Joslin said park leadership terminated their employment for “failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct” as a wildlife biologist after they helped hang the flag in May.
Joslin explained that the flag represented their acceptance of their identity and said it was hung “during my free time, off-duty, as a private citizen.” The banner flew for about two hours before being removed.
“El Capitan has had flags hung on it for decades and no one has EVER been punished for it. Only me,” Joslin wrote, adding that in more than four years at the park, “no one, in any of my roles has EVER had negative comments about my conduct.”
Park officials confirmed they ordered the flag to be taken down, SFGATE reported.
Joslin told NBC News that the idea to display the flag came after President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting transgender people shortly after beginning his second term. The demonstration, Joslin said, was meant to celebrate the trans community.
On May 21, Danika Globokar, Yosemite’s acting deputy superintendent, signed a rule banning large flags, banners, and signs on El Capitan, according to the Times. The measure, dated May 20 in the Park Service’s regulations, followed a string of protests at the site that drew national attention.
Joslin’s termination came less than a month before the end of their two-year probationary period, the Times reported. They believe the Trump administration is using them “to tell all of the other federal employees that they have to be silent and comply or they will be eliminated.”
“Preservation has been my life’s work—of Yosemite, the wildlife, the land, recreation, of peoples’ rights and safety, of community and acceptance, and now the Constitutional First Amendment,” Joslin wrote on Instagram. “I want my rights and I want my career back.”
National Park Service spokeswoman Rachel Pawlitz said on Monday, Aug. 18, that the agency is “pursuing administrative action against several Yosemite National Park employees and possible criminal charges against several park visitors who are alleged to have violated federal laws and regulations related to demonstrations,” but declined to comment on specific cases, NBC News reported.
She added that because most demonstrations require permits, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California “is evaluating possible criminal charges based on a National Park Service investigation.”
Joslin told NBC News they learned they were under criminal investigation about a week after the flag was raised, and that inquiry ultimately led to their dismissal.
They also said the firing will likely affect future opportunities with federal agencies or other park systems.
“I’m going to fight this tooth and nail,” Joslin said, confirming plans to pursue legal action. “I think that everyone as Americans should be upset about this, and it doesn’t matter who I am or what my identity is — this is a matter of free speech.”
