Nonbinary bat biologist fired for hanging trans flag above Yosemite seeks revenge on Trump officials

A nonbinary former Yosemite National Park ranger is suing the Department of the Interior after they were fired for hanging a transgender pride flag from the park’s famous El Capitan rock formation last year.

Shannon “SJ” Joslin, who describes themself as a nonbinary bat biologist, claims that their August 2025 firing over the stunt violated their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.

Park ranger holding a bat plush.
Nonbinary ranger and bat biologist Shannon “SJ” Joslin hung a 66-foot transgender pride flag on California rock formation El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.Instagram / shannonekj
“Constitutional rights are necessary and guaranteed for every person in the United States. This lawsuit is fighting for the rights of average people and is asserting that they don’t just exist for the individuals with the most power in this country,” Joslin told SFGATE, after filing the lawsuit on Monday.

Joslin and two other National Park Service (NPS) employees were off the clock when they scaled the iconic El Capitan rock formation in May 2025 and hung a trans pride flag.

They said they hung the flag — which was up for three hours before it was taken down — in response to President Trump’s executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

A rock climber smiles at the camera while ascending a cliff face with a transgender flag visible in the background.
The trans flag was up on the Yosemite rock formation for about three hours on May 20, 2025 before it was taken down. Joslin was later fired by the park for the stunt.Miya Tsudome

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“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 told The Associated Press at the time.

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Following a three-month investigation, Joslin was fired from Yosemite after four and a half years with the NPS, while the two other participating employees were placed on administrative leave.

The next day, the NPS banned hanging large flags in wilderness areas, with anyone ignoring the rule facing a six-month prison sentence.

A group of people, including Shannon Joslin, a Yosemite National Park ranger and biologist who was fired, hang a transgender flag on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, Calif., May 20, 2025.
Joslin said they hung the flag in the California national park in response to President Trump’s executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.AP
The restrictions from Acting Superintendent Raymond McPadden were dated May 20, 2025, the same day as Joslin’s stunt, but weren’t signed or made public until the following day, according to the lawsuit.

NPS officials told Joslin they were “treating the incident as a criminal matter,” and that they were “under active investigation,” according to the lawsuit.

Joslin hasn’t been indicted, but the investigation is still ongoing, as far as they know.

Joslin’s complaint, filed Monday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, demands that they be rehired at Yosemite and that the right to free speech be upheld at the park via a motion for a preliminary injunction.

“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.

Neither the NPS, the Department of the Interior, nor Yosemite National Park responded to requests for comment.