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."
"The National Park Service is conducting an inquiry into the facts and circumstances around this event. We take the protection of our national parks seriously and will not tolerate behavior that undermines their integrity," the spokesperson said.
“We flew the Trans pride flag in Yosemite to make a statement: Trans people are natural and Trans people are loved,” drag performer and environmentalist Pattie Gonia, one of the demonstration’s lead organizers, said in a statement. “Let this flag fly higher than hate. We are done being polite about Trans people’s existence. Call it a protest, call it a celebration — either way, it’s giving elevation to liberation.”
The group noted that the demonstration comes as the Trump administration has removed mentions of transgender and intersex people from government websites, including from the website for the Stonewall National Monument. The New York City monument commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising, which historians believe was led in part by trans people and which is largely considered a turning point in the modern gay rights movement.
Nate Vince, a climber who was involved in raising an upside-down U.S. flag during Yosemite’s firefall event in February to protest the Trump administration’s cuts of National Park Service employees, said in the statement shared by Trans Is Natural that “everyone deserves respect.”
“Trans people are my friends,” Vince said. “I step up when my friends need help and we all need to step up right now for Trans people.”
The climbers hung the flag on the “Heart Ledges” as a way to reclaim space in the heart of Yosemite, their statement said.
“Raising this flag in the heart of El Capitan is a celebration of our community standing in solidarity with each other and all targeted groups,” SJ Joslin, a conservationist and a lead organizer of the demonstration, said in a statement. “Trans existence is not up for debate. We are social workers, public servants, parents, and neighbors. Being trans is a natural, beautiful part of human and biological diversity. We can only make progress when we embrace diversity, not erase it.”
