The National Park Service has fired a wildlife biologist at Yosemite National Park who helped drape a large transgender pride flag from El Capitan in May, saying that the demonstration had taken place in a prohibited area and lacked the required permits.
The former employee, Shannon Joslin, 35, who studies bats and has a Ph.D. in genetics, received a termination letter from the Park Service on Aug. 12.
In the letter, the park’s acting deputy superintendent, Danika Globokar, wrote that Dr. Joslin, who is gay and identifies as nonbinary, had “failed to demonstrate acceptable conduct” by taking part in the May 20 demonstration.
On May 21, the park’s acting superintendent signed a new rule outlawing the display of large flags, banners and signs at El Capitan — the park’s iconic cliff — and most of the California park altogether. The move coincided with a broader push by the federal government to limit political demonstrations on public lands, especially those critical of the policies of the Trump administration.
The ban was included in a Park Service compendium of regulations that was dated May 20 and came after a series of widely publicized protests at El Capitan.
With less than a month to go of a two-year probationary status as a federal employee, Dr. Joslin was being dismissed, the Parks Service said, according to the letter, portions of which Dr. Joslin read to The New York Times.
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