Shannon "SJ" Joslin is a biologist who studied bats. They spent their working days in one of the most extraordinary landscapes on earth, doing the quiet, painstaking work of someone who genuinely loves the natural world. On their day off, on 20 May 2025, they helped hang a 66-foot-wide transgender pride flag on El Capitan, the great rock face that presides over Yosemite Valley. They took it down after two hours. They did it, they said, to send a message: "We're all safe in national parks."

A few months later, SJ Joslin was fired.

Last week, a federal judge dismissed their lawsuit challenging that termination. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston ruled that Joslin, as a probationary employee, must go through the Civil Service Reform Act process rather than taking the case directly to court. The Office of Special Counsel is investigating, and a final determination is expected in August. So the legal road continues, just not the one Joslin had hoped to take.

The sequence of events tells a story all by itself.

SJ Joslin hung a flag. On their own time. Not in uniform, not on duty. They hung it on El Capitan, a place where climbers have hung all manner of things over the years, and they took it down voluntarily after two hours. The flag said, in the most colourful way imaginable, that trans people belong in public spaces. That national parks are for everyone.

The termination letter accused them of "failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct" and of taking part in a demonstration outside a designated protest area without a permit. The park, notably, introduced a new rule banning large banners and flags the very next day. Joslin says they are not aware of anyone else ever being punished for flying something on El Capitan. The rule, conveniently, now makes such a display much harder for anyone to repeat.

Joslin's legal team argued that the firing was "vindictive, retaliatory, intended to communicate disapproval of a particular point of view". Judge Thurston did not dismiss that framing as absurd; she acknowledged that the civil service rules leave probationary employees with very limited recourse. She simply said the courts were not the right venue at this stage. The question of whether the National Park Service acted lawfully remains open.

What strikes me most is the message this sends to every public servant, every park ranger, every federal employee who might be wondering whether to show solidarity with trans colleagues, trans visitors, or their own trans identity. The answer the system has given SJ Joslin, at least so far, is: show a flag and lose your job. Fight it in court and be told you are in the wrong room. Try another door.

This is happening in the context of a broader dismantling. Donald Trump's administration fired National Park Service employees earlier in 2025, prompting protesters to hang an upside-down American flag on El Capitan in February. The climate for federal workers who hold, or simply express, the wrong views is visibly hostile. Joslin's case is not an isolated incident of bureaucratic procedure; it sits inside a pattern.

And yet SJ Joslin has not gone quiet. They filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel. They pursued a federal lawsuit. They spoke to the press. They are still here, still fighting, still saying what they said when they helped unfurl that flag over one of the most photographed rock faces in the world: that trans people are safe here, that they belong, that they are not going anywhere.

The case is not over. August will bring a determination from the Office of Special Counsel, and that result will matter. But whatever happens next, SJ Joslin has already done something that no ruling can undo. For two hours on a Tuesday in May, a 66-foot trans pride flag flew over Yosemite Valley. Hundreds of thousands of visitors pass through that valley every year. Some of them will have looked up.

If there is a news story you would like me to cover then just let Sammy know.

Dr Helen Webberley is a Gender Specialist, Medical Educator, and founder of GenderGP. She writes about gender diversity, trans healthcare, and the lives of trans people and their families.