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A transgender National Park ranger claims they were terminated for flying a 55-by-35-foot transgender Pride flag on El Capitan in Yosemite.
Shannon Joslin, a biologist and former park ranger, posted on Instagram Monday saying that they were fired from their job as a permanent park ranger last week “for practicing my First Amendment right.”
Joslin said that they were fired after they hung a large transgender Pride flag from El Capitan, a large rock face in Yosemite National Park in California.
In the post, they explained that they raised the flag in their free time, “off-duty, as a private citizen,” and that many other protest flags have been displayed on the geographical feature without anyone being punished. Joslin detailed that the flag “flew for a total of two hours in the morning, and then I took it down.”
“El Capitan has had flags hung on it for decades, and no one has EVER been punished for it. Only me,” Joslin wrote. “I was fired by the temporary Deputy Superintendent for ‘failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct’ in my capacity as a Wildlife Biologist for the park. No part of hanging the flag was done on work time. NOTHING about it had anything to do with my work.”
Joslin pointed out that they have volunteered overtime hours and worked as a wildland firefighter, a rescue technician, and a first responder, and have never “had negative comments” about their conduct before this incident.
“Preservation has been my life’s work—of Yosemite, the wildlife, the land, recreation, of people’s rights and safety, of community and acceptance, and now the Constitutional First Amendment,” they said. “I want my rights, and I want my career back.”
“First of all, this is a direct violation of your First Amendment rights,” drag queen and environmental activist Pattie Gonia commented. “To strip you of your position is not only an affront to your personal freedom but an attack on the very values of service, dedication, and community that you embody to the whole Yosemite community. This is about silencing those who oppose injustice, and we must not let that happen.”
In a statement to Out, Gonia reiterated that “firing SJ Joslin is a direct violation of their First Amendment rights. This unjust action is not just an attack on SJ, but a targeted move by the Trump administration to silence and punish anyone who practices free speech and dares to stand in defiance of the erasure of trans people. SJ is a respected pillar within the Yosemite community, a tireless volunteer who consistently goes above and beyond to aid in search and rescue efforts, ensuring the safety of visitors in one of the country’s most revered national parks. To strip SJ of their position is not only an affront to their personal freedom but an attack on the very values of service, dedication, and community that SJ embodies. This is about silencing those who oppose injustice and we must not let that happen.”
Gonia was one of the lead organizers of the action to hang the flag in May with Joslin. “We flew the Trans Pride flag in Yosemite to make a statement: Trans people are natural and Trans people are loved,” Gonia said in a release at the time. “Let this flag fly higher than hate. We are done being polite about trans people’s existence.”
When the flag was flown, the group Resistance Rangers published an Instagram post saying the banner is “an epic reminder that queer people belong everywhere” and that “nature is for all people.”
“Within hours, authorities demanded this flag, which did not violate park regulations and was the third protest flag flown on El Cap in recent memory, be removed,” the post says. “References to gender and trans people have been scrubbed from NPS.gov. And they’re digging in deeper against any nuanced understanding of our nation’s history. (A recent secretarial order banned park signs that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.’)”
“We’ll continue to shout from the rooftops, hang flags from our iconic landmarks, and demand that public lands stay in public hands — and parks are for everyone,” it continues.
Under President Donald Trump, the National Park Service has erased pages and information about trans activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera from its websites. Signs at the Muir Woods National Monument were also changed to remove historical context about racism and the role women played in the creation of the monument.
Out has reached out to Joslin for comment.
This article originally appeared on Out: Trans park ranger who hung Pride flag from El Capitan has been fired
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