Ranger fired for hanging transgender flag in Yosemite and park visitors may face prosecution

A Yosemite National Park ranger was fired after hanging a pride flag from El Capitan while some visitors face potential prosecution for alleged violations of protest restrictions that have been tightened under President Donald Trump.

Shannon “SJ” Joslin, a ranger and biologist who studies bats, said they hung a 66-foot wide transgender pride flag on the famous climbing wall that looms over the California park’s main thoroughfare for about two hours on May 20 before taking it down voluntarily. A termination letter they received last week accused Joslin of “failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct” in their capacity as a biologist and cited the May demonstration.

“I was really hurting because there were a lot of policies coming from the current administration that target trans people, and I’m nonbinary,” Joslin, 35, told The Associated Press, adding that hanging the flag was a way to “tell myself … that we’re all safe in national parks.”

Joslin said their firing sends the opposite message: “If you’re a federal worker and you have any kind of identity that doesn’t agree with this current administration, then you must be silent, or you will be eliminated.”

Park officials on Tuesday said they were working with the U.S. Justice Department to pursue visitors and workers who violated restrictions on demonstrations at the park that had more than 4 million visitors last year.

The agencies “are 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,” National Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said.

Joslin said a group of seven climbers including two other park rangers hung the flag. The other rangers are on administrative leave pending an investigation, Joslin said.

Flags have long been displayed from El Capitan without consequences, said Joanna Citron Day, a former federal attorney who is now with the advocacy group Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility. She said the group is representing Joslin, but there is no pending legal case.

On May 21, a day after the flag display, Acting Superintendent Ray McPadden signed a rule prohibiting people from hanging banners, flags or signs larger than 15 square feet in park areas designated as “wilderness” or “potential wilderness.” That covers 94% of the park, according to Yosemite’s website.

Parks officials defend restriction on protests

Parks officials said the new restriction on demonstrations was needed to preserve Yosemite’s wilderness and protect climbers.

“We take the protection of the park’s resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,” Pawlitz said.

It followed a widely publicized instance in February of demonstrators hanging an upside down American flag on El Capitan in the wake of the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration.

Among the small group of climbers who helped hang the flag was Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist and drag queen who uses the performance art to raise awareness of conservation issues. For the past five years, Gonia has helped throw a Pride event in Yosemite for park employees and their allies. She said they hung the transgender flag on the granite monolith to drive home the point that being transgender is natural.

Trump has limited access to gender-affirming medical treatments, banned trans women from competing in women’s sports, removed trans people from the military and changed the federal definition of sex to exclude the concept of gender identity.

Gonia called the firing unjust. Joslin said they hung the flag in their free time, as a private citizen.

“SJ is a respected pillar within the Yosemite community, a tireless volunteer who consistently goes above and beyond,” Gonia said.

Jayson O’Neill with the advocacy group Save Our Parks said Joslin’s firing appears aimed at intimidating park employees about expressing their views as the Trump administration pursues broad cuts to the federal workforce.

Since Trump took office, the National Park Service has lost approximately 2,500 employees from a workforce that had about 10,000 people, Wade said. The Republican president is proposing a $900 million cut to the agency’s budget next year.

Parks have First Amendment areas

Pawlitz said numerous visitors complained about unauthorized demonstrations on El Capitan earlier in the year.

Many parks have designated “First Amendment areas” where groups 25 or fewer people can protest without a permit. Yosemite has several First Amendment areas, including one in Yosemite Valley, where El Capitan is located.

Park service rules on demonstrations have been around for decades and withstood several court challenges, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers. He was not aware of any changes in how those rules are enforced under Trump.

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Associated Press journalist Brittany Peterson contributed reporting from Denver.