Decide dismissses fired Yosemite biologist’s trans flag lawsuit
What started as an act of solidarity finally took a bitter flip for a Nationwide Park Service biologist.
After serving to show a pink, white and blue transgender flag at El Capitan in Might 2025, Shannon Joslin, who makes use of “they/them” pronouns, discovered themselves on the middle of controversy, claiming they had been wrongfully terminated for his or her involvement and that their free speech rights had been violated.
In February 2026, Joslin filed a lawsuit in opposition to a number of authorities companies and officers, alleging illegal and retaliatory motion in response to peaceable off-duty expression. They sought reinstatement to their job, a ruling that the federal government acted illegally, safety from felony prices, and monetary damages.
On Friday, a federal decide dismissed the case, ruling the court docket has no authority to power the park service to reinstate Joslin’s place.
Nevertheless, the ruling didn’t settle the broader dispute surrounding Joslin’s firing. U.S. District Decide Jennifer L. Thurston stated that Joslin used the incorrect course of to problem the firing.
Joslin was on their time without work from work on the time, putting in the flag as a “personal citizen,” they stated.
Every week after the demonstration, Joslin was contacted by a Park Service legislation enforcement officer in regards to the flag and advised them they had been “underneath felony investigation.” In a follow-up interview, Yosemite’s performing deputy superintendent issued a termination letter.
The court docket ruling revealed that Joslin was a number of weeks shy of finishing their two-year trial interval when the termination occurred.
In keeping with their employer, Joslin “did not display acceptable conduct” in the course of the trial interval by collaborating in an indication with out the right allow, “thus [circumventing] guidelines relevant to all park guests.”
Joslin later obtained a kind, which cited a presidential govt order and unspecified “unacceptable conduct,” the court docket ruling stated.
Quickly after, Joslin posted on social media expressing outrage, and the story gained traction on-line.
Shannon Joslin, a biologist at Yosemite, was terminated after they put in a trans flag whereas off-duty with out the right permits.
(Pattie Gonia)
“I would like my rights and I would like my profession again,” Joslin wrote in an August 2025 Instagram put up. “Nobody, in any of my roles has EVER had unfavourable feedback about my conduct. I deal with individuals with the time, endurance and respect I hope they may give to me.”
Joslin can problem their termination by the Civil Service Reform Act, which protects federal workers from unfair practices and political retaliation, in response to Thurston.
In truth, Joslin started this course of by submitting a grievance with the U.S. Workplace of Particular Counsel, or OSC, in December 2025, alleging that the federal government’s actions “prohibited personnel observe.”
“My firing isn’t nearly one ranger,” Joslin advised The Instances in 2025. “It’s about whether or not everybody has the suitable to talk freely in the USA. This sort of concentrating on threatens the rights of civil servants, and by extension, all Individuals, to talk freely.”
The Workplace of Particular Counsel has as much as 240 days to reply to Joslin’s grievance. The deadline is Aug. 3. Nevertheless, as a result of a authorities shutdown and a backlog of circumstances, the OSC is anticipated to delay its response.
