"Yes, I lost my job for this flag. But this wasn't the first way that the Trump administration had been scaring us into silence as federal workers. There's been no problem with hanging flags up until this point. It's been something that climbers have been doing since humans have been climbing El Cap."
"According to advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), there is no record prior to Joslin's of disciplinary action or sanction for hanging a flag at El Cap, let alone a termination or criminal investigation. Such displays are common at the rock formation."
Shannon Joslin, a nonbinary Yosemite National Park ranger, was terminated after hanging a transgender Pride flag at El Capitan in May alongside six other climbers, including two park rangers and environmentalist drag queen Pattie Gonia. Flag displays at El Capitan are common practice among climbers, and no prior disciplinary action existed for such displays. Following the flag hanging, Yosemite Superintendent Ray McPadden announced a ban on banners, flags, or signs larger than fifteen square feet without permits. Joslin filed a federal lawsuit accusing the National Park Service and other federal agencies of illegal and unconstitutional retaliation for First Amendment-protected speech, characterizing the dismissal as part of broader intimidation targeting federal employees and the trans community.
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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