Former ranger at Yosemite National Park sues Interior Department after fired over trans pride flag

A former Yosemite National Park ranger axed after flying a trans pride flag there is suing the Interior Department, claiming the dismissal violated the First Amendment.

Shannon Joslin, a nonbinary person, unfurled the blue, pink and white trans pride flag from the El Capitan rock formation at the California park without a permit on May 20 in protest of the Trump administration.

Joslin was fired three months later for the display, and a criminal investigation was opened into Joslin and other protestors. 

In the suit, filed Monday against the Interior Department, Justice Department and others in a District of Columbia federal court, Joslin says the protest took place during time off from work and that the firing and the accompanying criminal investigation were a violation of the First Amendment.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an organization helping to represent the embattled former park ranger, said in a release Monday that prior to this case, no one had been terminated or faced a criminal probe after hanging a flag from El Capitan.

“This administration is targeting Dr. Joslin because it wants to scare people into silence,” said PEER’s Joanna Citron Day, one of Joslin’s attorneys.

Joslin also seeks an injunction ordering reinstatement as a ranger and biologist at Yosemite National Park and for the court to keep officials from pursuing criminal enforcement against pro-trans speech and expression made there.

“My life has been overhauled by an administration that wants to take away basic constitutional rights and ruin the lives of people who think or are different from them. I won’t sit back and accept the failing of American democracy, and this lawsuit is my way of giving voice to and fighting for all federal, trans and human rights in the United States,” Joslin told SFGATE.

The National Park Service, which is under the purview of the Interior Department and which was also named as a defendant in the case, told Outside magazine it does not comment on the specifics of actions involving its personnel.

An agency spokesperson told Outside that the NPS “will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences. No matter the cause, demonstrating without a permit outside of designated First Amendment areas detracts from the visitor experience and the protection of the park.”