Judge dismisses suit by fired Yosemite ranger who hung trans pride flag in park

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a former Yosemite national park ranger who was fired after flying a giant transgender pride flag from a rock wall that looms over the California park’s main thoroughfare.

US district judge Jennifer Thurston found on Friday that Shannon “SJ” Joslin, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, must follow the process set out by the Civil Service Reform Act. Since Joslin was still a probationary employee at the time of their firing last year, that means they must file a complaint with the office of special counsel, which they have done.

The office of special counsel denied Joslin’s initial request to put their termination on hold while investigating whether the Park Service broke the law, according to court filings. A final determination is due in August.

Joslin, a biologist who studied bats, said they helped hang a 66ft transgender pride flag on El Capitan for about two hours on 20 May 2025, before taking it down voluntarily. Joslin hung the flag on their day off, not while they were on duty.

They told the Associated Press last year that hanging the flag was their way of saying: “We’re all safe in national parks.”

Joslin’s termination letter, received in August of 2025, accused them of “failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct” and cited the flag incident. “You participated in a small group demonstration in an area outside the designated protest and demonstration area without a permit … and thus circumvented rules applicable to all park visitors,” the letter said.

Many parks have designated “first amendment areas” where groups of 25 or fewer people can protest without permits. Yosemite has several of those areas, including one in Yosemite valley, where El Capitan is located.

Following Joslin’s termination, they took to Instagram to issue a statement last August, saying: “I hung the flag in my free time, off-duty, as a private citizen. It 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.”

“I want my rights and I want my career back,” they added.

Joslin’s lawsuit accuses the National Park Service, the Department of Interior and other defendants of constitutional violations, including violating Joslin’s right to free speech. It says Joslin’s termination was “vindictive, retaliatory, intended to communicate disapproval of a particular point of view”, according to court filings. While others have flown flags on El Capitan, Joslin says they know of no one else who has been punished for it.

In their lawsuit, Joslin also cited the Trump administration’s hostility toward transgender communities, pointing to the rollback of protections for trans people, the defense department’s ban on transgender service members, and increased barriers from the Department of Health and Human Services for trans people seeking appropriate medical care.

“The administration’s actions have sent a clear message: that trans people are not protected by this administration,” Joslin’s lawsuit said.

In addition, the lawsuit pointed to Trump’s sweeping layoffs across federal agencies, including the National Park Service, where nearly a quarter of full-time employees have been laid off or departed.

In her Friday ruling, Thurston acknowledged that the procedure for challenging a termination set out in federal civil service rules leaves probationary employees like Joslin with very limited recourse when a decision goes against them. But the judge noted that allowing probationary employees to take complaints directly to the courts would give them more options than tenured employees have.

However, the ruling did not address Joslin’s allegation that their first amendment right to free speech had been violated by the termination.

Thurston instead said: “The motion to dismiss Joslin’s employment-related claims and requests for relief is granted without leave to amend, but also without prejudice to any future litigation in an appropriate venue.”

Thurston also denied a motion for a preliminary injunction, saying: “Because the Court has dismissed the complaint, Joslin cannot show they are likely to succeed on the merits of the claims within it, nor that their claims raise serious questions on the merits.”

Following Thurston’s ruling, Joslin told the New York Times that it “isn’t a ‘win’ for the federal government”, adding: “This just slows down the process of allowing justice to be served for the American people and slows down allowing National Park Service employees to be effective stewards of public lands.”

Joslin went on to say: “I understand the gravity of being let go for an identity that this administration has turned into an ideology.”

A day after Joslin’s flag display, the park instituted 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.

The rule followed another high-profile demonstration from February 2025 when a group of demonstrators hung an upside-down American flag on El Capitan to protest the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration.