Park Ranger Fired After Helping Drape A Transgender Pride Flag On Yosemite's El Capitan

Yosemite National Park fired a parkland ranger past week for hanging a transgender pridefulness emblem connected nan park’s iconic El Capitan stone statement successful May.

Shannon “SJ” Joslin, who has been a ranger and a wildlife biologist successful nan parkland since 2021, said they were fired Aug. 12 from what they described arsenic their dream job. They said parkland activity told them they “failed to show acceptable conduct” successful their domiciled by participating successful nan trans emblem display.

“I’m devastated,” said Joslin, who is trans and uses they/them pronouns. “We don’t return our positions successful nan parkland work to make money aliases to person immoderate benignant of immense profession gains. We return it because we emotion nan places that we work. I person a Ph.D. successful bioinformatics, and I could beryllium making a batch much money successful Silicon Valley, which is only a fewer hours away, but I made profession choices to position myself successful Yosemite National Park, because this is nan spot that I emotion nan most.”

SJ Joslin was a parkland ranger and wildlife biologist for Yosemite who studied bats.Courtesy SJ Joslin

When asked for remark connected Joslin’s termination, a spokesperson for Yosemite National Park said nan National Park Service, which oversees Yosemite, “is pursuing administrative action against aggregate National Park Service labor for failing to travel National Park Service regulations.” The spokesperson did not instantly respond to an further mobility astir which regulations nan labor allegedly violated. The NPS did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

Joslin, who is 35 and had been going to nan parkland for years anterior to moving there, has written Yosemite climbing guidebooks and volunteered to activity overtime to thief rumor hiking permits and negociate postulation successful nan park. As a wildlife biologist, they managed nan park’s “big wall bats” program, to study really bats usage cliffs and protect them from a deadly illness called white-nose syndrome.

Joslin said they came up pinch nan thought to bent nan trans pridefulness emblem connected El Capitan successful nan outpouring aft President Donald Trump issued a assortment of executive orders targeting trans people, including orders to alteration nan national meaning of activity to exclude trans identities, restrict entree to trans wellness attraction and prohibit trans women from competing successful female sports.

A transgender emblem hangs connected nan look of Yosemite National Park's iconic El Capitan rock statement successful May.Jayce Kolinski

Joslin said nan emblem display, which they organized pinch different LGBTQ climbers and advocates and participated successful extracurricular of activity hours, was intended to observe trans group and show that everyone is invited successful nan nation’s parks. The emblem was up connected El Capitan for astir 2 hours erstwhile parkland officials told nan climbers to region it, though nan climbers said astatine nan clip that they were not told that they had surgery immoderate parkland rules.

About a week aft nan display, Joslin said, parkland activity told them they were nan taxable of a criminal investigation into nan hanging of nan flag. After that investigation, Acting Deputy Superintendent Danika Globokar fired Joslin owed to their information successful what activity described arsenic nan “flag demonstration,” Joslin said.

Joslin said they asked for grounds proving that nan emblem show was a objection but said activity did not supply any.

They besides cited nan agelong history of a assortment of flags being flown connected nan rock’s face, including by parkland employees. For example, parkland labor flew an upside-down U.S. emblem during Yosemite’s firefall event successful February to protestation nan Trump administration’s cuts of National Park Service employees. A group of activists besides raised a “Stop nan genocide” emblem connected El Capitan successful support of Palestinians successful Gaza successful June 2024.

SJ Joslin pinch a Townsend's big-eared bat.Courtesy SJ Joslin

There was nary argumentation prohibiting nan show of flags connected El Capitan until nan time aft Joslin and their squad hung nan trans flag, erstwhile nan National Park Service issued a caller norm banning nan hanging of ample flags successful wilderness areas. Yosemite activity updated nan 2024 Superintendent’s Compendium to see nan update.

“Hanging flags has been a contented that climbers person done connected El Cap for decades, and that’s some individuals who are visiting nan park, but besides labor that are connected their disconnected time,” Joslin said. “There’s ne'er been immoderate benignant of ramifications to immoderate of those emblem hanging activities. I’m nan only 1 who’s been fired for it.”

Joslin said 2 different NPS employees, including 1 who useful successful Yosemite and different who useful successful a different park, are nether investigation for helping to show nan trans flag.

Joslin said being fired from a national position will wounded their expertise to activity for nan government, aliases immoderate different park, successful nan future. They scheme to activity ineligible counsel to effort to title nan decision, citing an executive bid Trump issued connected nan first time of his presidency to protect free reside and extremity national censorship.

“I’m going to conflict this bony and nail,” Joslin said. “I deliberation that everyone arsenic Americans should beryllium upset astir this, and it doesn’t matter who I americium aliases what my personality is, this is simply a matter of free speech.”