Park Ranger Fired After Hanging 66-Foot Trans Flag On Yosemite's El Capitan
Shannon "SJ" Joslin says she was fired for “free speech" after helping drape a massive transgender pride flag across the famous rock formation.
My favorite thing about getting out and exploring the outdoors is that it's a chance to escape — a few hours (or a few days) to ignore all the nonsense on the internet and all the terrible things happening in the world.
It's just you, fresh air, the smell of the trees and… a giant trans flag draped across the side of El Capitan.
At least, that was the case back in May when a park ranger named Shannon "SJ" Joslin and a group of climbers, including environmental activist drag queen "Pattie Gonia," unfurled a 66-foot transgender pride flag across one of the most iconic rock faces in America.
Now, Joslin, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, has been fired from her "dream job" with the National Park Service, and she’s "devastated."
"We don’t take our positions in the park service to make money or to have any kind of huge career gains," Joslin said. "We take it because we love the places that we work."
A wildlife biologist in Yosemite since 2021, Joslin said, "I made career choices to position myself in Yosemite National Park, because this is the place that I love the most."
Apparently not enough to respect the park’s rules, though.
(Photo by Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
According to the National Park Service (NPS), Joslin "failed to demonstrate acceptable conduct" by participating in the flag display — a stunt the 35-year-old later admitted was a political statement in response to the Trump-era policies defining sex by biological reality and prohibiting male athletes from competing in girls’ sports.
So to protest that, Joslin decided to haul a massive polyester statement up El Capitan and drape it across the rock face of a federally protected wilderness area.
Joslin and her supporters are spinning this as a First Amendment issue, insisting it was done off the clock and in the name of inclusion. She says the flag was meant to show that "we're all safe in national parks."
But the reality is this: our national parks are not your stage for protest theater. As a park ranger — especially one with a Ph.D. in bioinformatics and a leadership role in Yosemite's wildlife program — you’re supposed to be setting the example for others. That includes adhering to basic outdoor ethics like the "Leave No Trace" principles, which clearly state that you shouldn’t alter or disrupt the natural landscape and that you must leave the parks the same way you found them.
"Hanging flags has been a tradition," Joslin argued, pointing to past examples of other flags being displayed on El Capitan, including one protesting budget cuts during the Trump administration and another flag supporting Palestinians in Gaza. She claims she's the only one who’s ever been fired for it.
But maybe that's a risk you take when you're a federal employee who decides to haul a 66-foot political banner onto a protected natural feature and then brag about it on TikTok.
The National Park Service Is Stepping In
According to NPS spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz, the Park Service and the Department of Justice 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."
And yes, a new rule banning flag-hanging in wilderness areas was added to the Yosemite Superintendent’s Compendium shortly after the incident. But the decision to fire Joslin didn’t hinge on retroactive rule changes. It hinged on the fact that a park ranger participated in a coordinated, politically-charged demonstration while holding a position of public trust.
And for someone who loves the park so much, Joslin sure made it about herself.
She says she’ll fight the firing "tooth and nail" and is now seeking legal counsel.
Yosemite National Park visitors take a look at El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall from Tunnel View in Yosemite Valley.
(Getty Images)
The outdoors should be a place to get away from all the culture war noise. If you need to make a statement, you're more than welcome to write to your representatives, post all over social media or march in the streets with cardboard signs.
But a 3,000-foot granite cliff in one of the most beautiful places on Earth is no one’s personal bulletin board.
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