National Park Service employee fired for displaying trans-pride flag over El Capitan [View all]

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.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-20/national-park-service-employee-fired-for-displaying-trans-pride-flag-over-el-capitan