Shannon ‘SJ’ Joslin among group who hung 66ft flag on El Capitan as others could face prosecution under protest laws
A Yosemite national park ranger was fired after hanging a pride flag from El Capitan, while some park visitors could face prosecution under protest restrictions that have been tightened under Donald Trump.
Shannon “SJ” Joslin, a ranger and biologist who studies bats, said they hung a 66ft-wide transgender pride flag on the famous climbing wall that looms over the California park’s main thoroughfare for about two hours on 20 May 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 incident.
“I was really hurting because there were a lot of policies coming from the current administration that target trans people, and I’m non-binary,” Joslin, 35, told the Associated Press, adding that hanging the flag was their way of saying: “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.”
