As the Trump administration ramps up efforts to erase LGBTQ+ voices and communities of color from the historical narrative, Yosemite National Park has terminated the employment of a park ranger after they displayed a transgender pride flag on a landmark rock formation during their off-duty hours.Shannon “SJ” Joslin, a ranger and wildlife biologist who has been working at the park since 2021, said they were fired from their “dream job” on August 12 in an Instagram post. According to Joslin, Temporary Deputy Superintendent Ray McPadden of the National Park Service (NPS) told them that they had “[failed] to demonstrate acceptable conduct” after they hung the Trans Pride flag on the face of the granite monolith El Capitan.“The messages my termination send out to the public is that if you have an identity that has been turned into a ‘ideology’ not in line with the current administration, your rights will be different than other Americans that fall into the ‘ideal standard’ for who and what a person should be, look like, and believe in,” Joslin told Hyperallergic. An NPS spokesperson told Hyperallergic in a statement that the agency is “pursuing administrative action against multiple employees for failing to follow National Park Service regulations.” They declined to comment on the specifics of Joslin’s case.“We want to emphasize that 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,” the spokesperson said, alleging that “several unauthorized demonstrations involving El Capitan” last year had drawn complaints from visitors.SJ with the flag on the face of El Capitan in Yosemite (photo courtesy SJ Joslin)Joslin stated that they displayed the flag for about two hours on May 20 during their off-duty hours, and noted that Yosemite regulations did not ban the hanging of flags at the time. The following day, however, the NPS appears to have updated the park’s rules to prohibit the display of “any banner, flag, or sign larger than fifteen square feet” on any natural or cultural features without a permit, citing the need to “provide for an unimpaired visitor experience” and “protect natural and cultural resources.”While the new version of the compendium with the ban is dated May 20, the signature from the park’s acting superintendent, Raymond McPadden, is dated May 21, 2025. Previous versions of the compendium, accessed by Hyperallergic via the Wayback Machine, did not mention flags or banners. Hanging flags on the famous vertical wall of El Capitan is a tradition that many climbers have long participated in. In February, park employees flew an inverted United States flag over the side of the monolith’s cliff to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Park Service. Last June, climbers hung a banner that read “Stop the Genocide” to decry the US-backed Israeli military’s assault on Palestine.The NPS’s termination of Joslin’s employment comes amid the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on LGBTQ+ rights and visibility. In February, the national parks agency expunged all references to trans and queer people from its website describing the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion. The erasure then extended to mentions of bisexual people in May.“In my celebration of identity and acceptance, I’ve been disparaged and deemed unacceptable,” Joslin told Hyperallergic. “It’s a tragic juxtaposition of how to treat human beings.”