Judge dismisses Yosemite ranger’s trans flag firing lawsuit
A federal judge dismissed Shannon “SJ” Joslin’s lawsuit over a transgender pride flag at El Capitan, sending the former Yosemite ranger to a federal personnel complaints process.
A federal judge has thrown out Shannon “SJ” Joslin’s lawsuit over a firing tied to a transgender pride flag raised at Yosemite’s El Capitan, shifting the fight from constitutional court to the federal personnel system. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston dismissed the case on Friday, June 12, 2026, saying the court lacked authority to order Joslin’s reinstatement.
Joslin, a former Yosemite National Park ranger and biologist who uses they/them pronouns, was fired after helping a group of climbers unfurl a 66-foot-wide transgender pride flag from El Capitan in May 2025. Joslin sued the federal government in February 2026, arguing the dismissal violated the First Amendment and amounted to retaliation for protected speech. But Thurston ruled that the dispute could not proceed in her courtroom because requests for reinstatement must go through the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the agency that handles certain prohibited personnel practice claims.
The decision did not reach the core constitutional question of whether Yosemite or the U.S. Department of the Interior crossed a line by disciplining Joslin for activism on duty. Instead, the ruling was procedural, leaving unresolved whether the firing was unlawfully selective or retaliatory. That distinction matters because federal employees do not forfeit all speech rights, but agencies also enforce rules that restrict activism, demonstrations and conduct that can be treated as official workplace discipline.
The case drew attention because it unfolded at Yosemite National Park, one of the National Park Service’s most recognizable symbols. First protected in 1864, Yosemite spans nearly 1,200 square miles, and El Capitan is among its most visible landmarks. The dispute landed amid broader tensions over LGBTQ+ visibility and protest restrictions in national parks, where the government’s interest in order, neutrality and employee discipline collides with public workers’ claims to speak as private citizens. Thurston’s ruling leaves that larger debate intact, while steering Joslin toward the special-counsel process as the next venue for the challenge.
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