Judge Dismisses Lawsuit of Fired Ranger Over Transgender Flag Incident
A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit of a former park ranger who was let go for assisting in the raising of a large transgender pride flag on Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan rock formation.
Shannon Joslyn, a park ranger identifying as non-binary, lost their job with the National Park Service in August 2025. Joslyn filed a lawsuit against the agency, claiming the termination was retaliatory, infringing upon their First Amendment rights, and an attempt to suppress political expression. The incident that led to the firing occurred in May 2025 when Joslyn, who wasn’t on duty at the time, aided in raising the transgender pride flag on Yosemite’s iconic granite cliffs.
Joslyn collaborated with a group called the “LGBTQ Activist Climber Coalition,” known as “Trans is Natural,” which unfurled the flag in a show of solidarity. The event was reported by Breitbart News at the time, highlighting that the flag-raising was partly a protest against the Trump administration’s efforts to remove content relating to transgender issues from government websites.
“Yes, I lost my job because of this flag, but this isn’t the first time the Trump administration has pushed us into silence as federal employees,” Joslyn shared in an interview. “That felt wrong.”
In a ruling, Judge Jennifer L. Thurston of the Eastern District of California concluded that the court lacked the authority to provide the relief Joslyn sought regarding their firing. She stated that the government offered a “more fundamental and persuasive argument” about the legal boundaries of the court’s jurisdiction in this matter.
Thurston noted, “Under the laws Congress has passed and the precedents federal trial courts must follow, this court has no authority to determine whether Mr. Joslyn was fired for unconstitutional or unlawful reasons or to block hypothetical criminal proceedings against Mr. Joslyn.”
Thurston was appointed to her position by President Joe Biden after being confirmed by the Senate in 2021. Meanwhile, Joslyn, who holds a doctorate in genetics and previously worked as a quantitative wildlife biologist, sought reinstatement and requested the court to dismiss any potential criminal charges related to the flag incident.
