Latest news with #ShannonJoslin
The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Non-binary park ranger fired for hanging trans pride flag in Yosemite
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.' Park officials on Tuesday said they were working with the US justice department to pursue visitors and workers who violated restrictions on demonstrations at the park that had more than 4 million visitors last year. The agencies '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', National Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said. Joslin said a group of seven climbers including two other park rangers hung the flag. The other rangers are on administrative leave pending an investigation, Joslin said. Flags have long been flown from El Capitan without consequences, said Joanna Citron Day, a former federal attorney who is now with the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. She said the group is representing Joslin, but there is no pending legal case. On 21 May, a day after the flag display, acting superintendent Ray McPadden signed a rule prohibiting people from hanging banners, flags or signs larger than 15 sq ft in park areas designated as 'wilderness' or 'potential wilderness'. That covers 94% of the park, according to Yosemite's website. Park officials said the new restriction was needed to preserve Yosemite's wilderness and protect climbers. 'We take the protection of the park's resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,' Pawlitz said. It followed a widely publicized instance in February of demonstrators hanging an upside-down US flag on El Capitan to protest against the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration. Among the climbers who helped hang the transgender flag was Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist and drag queen who uses performance art to raise awareness of conservation issues. For the past five years, Gonia has helped throw a Pride event in Yosemite for park employees. She said they hung the transgender flag on the iconic granite monolith to express that being transgender is natural. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion This year, Trump signed an executive order changing the federal definition of sex to exclude the concept of gender identity. He also banned trans women from competing in women's sports, removed trans people from the military and limited access to gender-affirming care. Gonia called the firing unjust. Joslin said they hung the flag in their free time, as a private citizen. 'SJ is a respected pillar within the Yosemite community, a tireless volunteer who consistently goes above and beyond,' Gonia said. Jayson O'Neill with the advocacy group Save Our Parks said Joslin's firing appears aimed at deterring park employees from expressing their views as the Trump administration pursues broad cuts to the federal workforce. Since Trump took office, the National Park Service has lost approximately 2,500 employees from a workforce that had about 10,000 people, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers. The Republican president is proposing a $900m cut to the agency's budget next year. Pawlitz said numerous visitors complained about unauthorized demonstrations on El Capitan earlier in the year. Many parks have designated 'first amendment areas' where groups of 25 or fewer people can protest without permits. Yosemite has several of those areas, including one in Yosemite valley, where El Capitan is located. Park service rules on demonstrations have existed for decades and withstood several court challenges, Wade said. He was not aware of any changes in how those rules are enforced under Trump.
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Non-binary park ranger fired for hanging trans pride flag in Yosemite
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.' Park officials on Tuesday said they were working with the US justice department to pursue visitors and workers who violated restrictions on demonstrations at the park that had more than 4 million visitors last year. The agencies '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', National Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said. Joslin said a group of seven climbers including two other park rangers hung the flag. The other rangers are on administrative leave pending an investigation, Joslin said. Flags have long been flown from El Capitan without consequences, said Joanna Citron Day, a former federal attorney who is now with the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. She said the group is representing Joslin, but there is no pending legal case. On 21 May, a day after the flag display, acting superintendent Ray McPadden signed a rule prohibiting people from hanging banners, flags or signs larger than 15 sq ft in park areas designated as 'wilderness' or 'potential wilderness'. That covers 94% of the park, according to Yosemite's website. Park officials said the new restriction was needed to preserve Yosemite's wilderness and protect climbers. 'We take the protection of the park's resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,' Pawlitz said. It followed a widely publicized instance in February of demonstrators hanging an upside-down US flag on El Capitan to protest against the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration. Among the climbers who helped hang the transgender flag was Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist and drag queen who uses performance art to raise awareness of conservation issues. For the past five years, Gonia has helped throw a Pride event in Yosemite for park employees. She said they hung the transgender flag on the iconic granite monolith to express that being transgender is natural. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion This year, Trump signed an executive order changing the federal definition of sex to exclude the concept of gender identity. He also banned trans women from competing in women's sports, removed trans people from the military and limited access to gender-affirming care. Gonia called the firing unjust. Joslin said they hung the flag in their free time, as a private citizen. 'SJ is a respected pillar within the Yosemite community, a tireless volunteer who consistently goes above and beyond,' Gonia said. Jayson O'Neill with the advocacy group Save Our Parks said Joslin's firing appears aimed at deterring park employees from expressing their views as the Trump administration pursues broad cuts to the federal workforce. Since Trump took office, the National Park Service has lost approximately 2,500 employees from a workforce that had about 10,000 people, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers. The Republican president is proposing a $900m cut to the agency's budget next year. Pawlitz said numerous visitors complained about unauthorized demonstrations on El Capitan earlier in the year. Many parks have designated 'first amendment areas' where groups of 25 or fewer people can protest without permits. Yosemite has several of those areas, including one in Yosemite valley, where El Capitan is located. Park service rules on demonstrations have existed for decades and withstood several court challenges, Wade said. He was not aware of any changes in how those rules are enforced under Trump.
Los Angeles Times
19 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
National Park Service employee fired for displaying trans-pride flag over El Capitan
A National Park Service employee was terminated and may be criminally charged for unfurling a trans-pride flag over El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, park officials said. The firing has sparked an outcry from LGBTQ+ activists, who are accusing the federal government of firing the worker to silence them. On May 20, a group of LGTBQ+ activists and climbers ascended El Capitan — an iconic vertical wall formation in Yosemite National Park — to display a 55-by-35-foot trans-pride flag to affirm transgender identity and support biological research that showed natural occurrences of sex switching in other animals, according to a news release. Among the group were Shannon Joslin, a biologist at Yosemite, and Pattie Gonia, a prominent environmental and LGBTQ+ activist. 'Raising this flag in the heart of El Capitan is a celebration of our community, standing in solidarity with each other and all targeted groups,' said Joslin, whose pronoun is 'they.' 'Being trans is a natural, beautiful part of human and biological diversity.' Joslin, 35, worked as a wildlife conservationist, statistician and chiropterologist — an expert in bats — at Yosemite since 2021. A doctoral graduate from UC Davis, they managed the Big Wall Bats program and created Yosemite climb guidebooks in addition to volunteer work, according to the release. Two hours after the flag went up, the group was ordered by park officials to take it down. Climbers who participated said that park officials outlined no consequences after they ordered the flag removed and that the group left peacefully. Video of the demonstration shows Joslin was not in park uniform during the climb, and the news release added that they also were not on duty at the time and used no park materials to rig the flag. But on Aug. 12, Joslin was terminated by park officials for their participation in the flag raising. The National Park Service and Department of Justice said they were pursuing administrative action and possible criminal charges against several park visitors and employees who were alleged to have 'violated federal laws and regulations related to demonstrations' by not obtaining a permit. 'We take the protection of the park's resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,' said Rachel Pawlitz, chief spokesperson for the National Park Service. The National Park Service pointed to a recent rule that the agency said went into effect the date of the incident. The rule prohibits guests or employees from hanging signs or banners over any 'natural or cultural feature' in the park. Joslin says that rule did not exist at the time, and an archive of the park's rules five days before the incident does not include a prohibition on flags. Another archived version of the page from the following month, on June 15, includes the new flag prohibition and is dated back to May 20. 'The National Park Service rewrote the park rules to ban hanging large flags in wilderness areas, including the face of El Capitan,' the climbing group's news release said. Multiple flag demonstrations have taken place at Yosemite before, such as employees flying an upside-down American flag in protest of Trump administration cuts to federal funding and a 'Stop the Genocide' flag hung in protest against the Israeli and U.S. governments last year in response to the war in Gaza. 'In America, our freedoms matter,' Joslin said. 'Our team followed every written and unwritten rule, left no trace, and honored Yosemite's accepted traditions.' While not expressly banned, guests and employees must obtain a permit to display flags over the natural landscape in Yosemite, Pawlitz said. The decision to fire Joslin sparked outrage among LGBTQ+ advocates and activists. Gonia said in a statement that she believes the termination was a part of a broader push by the Trump administration to crack down on political demonstration and LGBTQ+ visibility. 'To strip [Shannon Joslin] of their position is not only an affront to their personal freedom but an attack on the very values of service, dedication, and community that [Joslin] embodies,' Gonia said. 'This is about silencing those who oppose injustice and we must not let that happen.' The climbing group and other activists want Joslin reinstated and demand an independent investigation into the park's conduct and hiring practices, the release said. They have also cited President Trump's executive order on 'Restoring Free Speech and Ending Federal Censorship' as reason for reinstatement. The order, signed on Trump's inauguration date, said it would 'ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.' 'My firing isn't just about one ranger,' Joslin said. 'It's about whether everyone has the right to speak freely in the United States. This kind of targeting threatens the rights of civil servants, and by extension, all Americans, to speak freely.'
The Independent
21 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Ranger fired for hanging transgender flag from iconic National Park spot
A Yosemite National Park ranger has been dismissed from their role after unfurling a transgender pride flag from the iconic El Capitan, as other park visitors face potential legal action under protest restrictions tightened during President Donald Trump's administration. Shannon "SJ" Joslin, a ranger and bat biologist, stated they displayed the 66-foot wide flag on the famous climbing wall overlooking the California park's main thoroughfare for approximately two hours on May 20 before voluntarily removing it. A termination letter received last week accused Joslin of "failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct" in their capacity as a biologist, directly referencing the May demonstration as the cause for their dismissal. '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, 35, told The Associated Press, adding that hanging the flag was a way to 'tell myself ... that 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.' Park officials on Tuesday said they were working with the U.S. Justice Department to pursue visitors and workers who violated restrictions on demonstrations at the park that had more than 4 million visitors last year. The agencies "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," National Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said. Joslin said a group of seven climbers including two other park rangers hung the flag. The other rangers are on administrative leave pending an investigation, Joslin said. Flags have long been displayed from El Capitan without consequences, said Joanna Citron Day, a former federal attorney who is now with the advocacy group Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility. She said the group is representing Joslin, but there is no pending legal case. On May 21, a day after the flag display, Acting Superintendent Ray McPadden signed a rule prohibiting people from hanging banners, flags or signs larger than 15 square feet in park areas designated as 'wilderness' or 'potential wilderness.' That covers 94% of the park, according to Yosemite's website. Parks officials said the new restriction on demonstrations was needed to preserve Yosemite's wilderness and protect climbers. 'We take the protection of the park's resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,' Pawlitz said. It followed a widely publicized instance in February of demonstrators hanging an upside down American flag on El Capitan in the wake of the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration. Among the small group of climbers who helped hang the flag was Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist and drag queen who uses the performance art to raise awareness of conservation issues. For the past five years, Gonia has helped throw a Pride event in Yosemite for park employees and their allies. She said they hung the transgender flag on the granite monolith to drive home the point that being transgender is natural. Trump has limited access to gender-affirming medical treatments, banned trans women from competing in women's sports, removed trans people from the military and changed the federal definition of sex to exclude the concept of gender identity. Gonia called the firing unjust. Joslin said they hung the flag in their free time, as a private citizen. 'SJ is a respected pillar within the Yosemite community, a tireless volunteer who consistently goes above and beyond," Gonia said. Jayson O'Neill with the advocacy group Save Our Parks said Joslin's firing appears aimed at intimidating park employees about expressing their views as the Trump administration pursues broad cuts to the federal workforce. Since Trump took office, the National Park Service has lost approximately 2,500 employees from a workforce that had about 10,000 people, Wade said. The Republican president is proposing a $900 million cut to the agency's budget next year. Pawlitz said numerous visitors complained about unauthorized demonstrations on El Capitan earlier in the year. Many parks have designated 'First Amendment areas' where groups 25 or fewer people can protest without a permit. Yosemite has several First Amendment areas, including one in Yosemite Valley, where El Capitan is located. Park service rules on demonstrations have been around for decades and withstood several court challenges, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers. He was not aware of any changes in how those rules are enforced under Trump. ___
CNN
a day ago
- Politics
- CNN
Ranger fired for hanging transgender flag in Yosemite and park visitors may face prosecution
LGBTQ issues Donald Trump Diversity and equityFacebookTweetLink Follow A Yosemite National Park ranger was fired after hanging a pride flag from El Capitan while some visitors face potential prosecution for alleged violations of protest restrictions that have been tightened under President Donald Trump. Shannon 'SJ' Joslin, a ranger and biologist who studies bats, said they hung a 66-foot wide transgender pride flag on the famous climbing wall that looms over the California park's main thoroughfare for about two hours on May 20 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 nonbinary,' Joslin, 35, told The Associated Press, adding that hanging the flag was a way to 'tell myself … that 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.' Park officials on Tuesday said they were working with the US Justice Department to pursue visitors and workers who violated restrictions on demonstrations at the park that had more than 4 million visitors last year. The agencies '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,' National Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said. Joslin said a group of seven climbers including two other park rangers hung the flag. The other rangers are on administrative leave pending an investigation, Joslin said. Flags have long been displayed from El Capitan without consequences, said Joanna Citron Day, a former federal attorney who is now with the advocacy group Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility. She said the group is representing Joslin, but there is no pending legal case. On May 21, a day after the flag display, Acting Superintendent Ray McPadden signed a rule prohibiting people from hanging banners, flags or signs larger than 15 square feet in park areas designated as 'wilderness' or 'potential wilderness.' That covers 94% of the park, according to Yosemite's website. Parks officials said the new restriction on demonstrations was needed to preserve Yosemite's wilderness and protect climbers. 'We take the protection of the park's resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,' Pawlitz said. It followed a widely publicized instance in February of demonstrators hanging an upside down American flag on El Capitan in the wake of the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration. Among the small group of climbers who helped hang the flag was Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist and drag queen who uses the performance art to raise awareness of conservation issues. For the past five years, Gonia has helped throw a Pride event in Yosemite for park employees and their allies. She said they hung the transgender flag on the granite monolith to drive home the point that being transgender is natural. Trump has limited access to gender-affirming medical treatments, banned trans women from competing in women's sports, removed trans people from the military and changed the federal definition of sex to exclude the concept of gender identity. Gonia called the firing unjust. Joslin said they hung the flag in their free time, as a private citizen. 'SJ is a respected pillar within the Yosemite community, a tireless volunteer who consistently goes above and beyond,' Gonia said. Jayson O'Neill with the advocacy group Save Our Parks said Joslin's firing appears aimed at intimidating park employees about expressing their views as the Trump administration pursues broad cuts to the federal workforce. Since Trump took office, the National Park Service has lost approximately 2,500 employees from a workforce that had about 10,000 people, Wade said. The Republican president is proposing a $900 million cut to the agency's budget next year. Pawlitz said numerous visitors complained about unauthorized demonstrations on El Capitan earlier in the year. Many parks have designated 'First Amendment areas' where groups 25 or fewer people can protest without a permit. Yosemite has several First Amendment areas, including one in Yosemite Valley, where El Capitan is located. Park service rules on demonstrations have been around for decades and withstood several court challenges, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers. He was not aware of any changes in how those rules are enforced under Trump.
