My family has gone to Yosemite National Park many times to enjoy its natural wonders.
Fortunately, we were not there this May when some of the park’s employees decided to despoil the beauty of the region with a gender justice display.
A group of LGBTQ climbers and advocates hung a large transgender pride flag in the middle of Yosemite’s famous El Capitan rock formation on Tuesday.Trans Is Natural, which describes itself as a coalition of transgender, queer and ally climbers, said in a statement that its members unfurled the flag “in an act of solidarity and resistance.”They said the trans pride flag, which is 55 feet by 35 feet, is the largest flag ever displayed on El Capitan. The climbers hung the flag 1,500 feet up El Capitan, on the granite monolith’s “Heart Ledges,” between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. PT and displayed it until around noon, when park officials directed that it be removed, though the climbers said they were not told that they had broken any park rules, according Jess Fiaschetti, the group’s media contact.A spokesperson for Yosemite National Park said in an emailed statement Wednesday that park officials are “aware of the unauthorized display” and “the flag was removed a soon as possible.”
One of the employees involved in the stunt has now been fired. I will simply note that NBC News decided to coddle the employee’s delusions by using the “they/them” pronouns.
Shannon “SJ” Joslin, who has been a ranger and a wildlife biologist in the park since 2021, said they were fired Aug. 12 from what they described as their dream job. They said park leadership told them they “failed to demonstrate acceptable conduct” in their role by participating in the trans flag display.“I’m devastated,” said Joslin, who is trans and uses they/them pronouns. “We don’t take our positions in the park service to make money or to have any kind of huge career gains. We take it because we love the places that we work. I have a Ph.D. in bioinformatics, and I could be making a lot more money in Silicon Valley, which is only a few hours away, but I made career choices to position myself in Yosemite National Park, because this is the place that I love the most.”When asked for comment on Joslin’s termination, a spokesperson for Yosemite National Park said the National Park Service, which oversees Yosemite, “is pursuing administrative action against multiple National Park Service employees for failing to follow National Park Service regulations.” The spokesperson declined to say which regulations the employees allegedly violated.Rachel Pawlitz, a spokesperson for the NPS, said the agency and the Justice Department “are pursuing administrative action against several Yosemite National Park employees and possible criminal charges against several park visitors who are alleged to have violated federal laws and regulations related to demonstrations.”
If a biologist can’t accept the reality of his or her genetics, then exactly how is the public supposed to trust the research from that scientist?
All the park employees involved will likely be enjoying the “FO” phase of the FAFO cycle…especially as the Trump Justice Department is involved.
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