FBI Director Kash Patel fired a bureau employee this week, reportedly for displaying an LGBTQ+ Pride flag at his workstation.

According to CNN, which first reported on the firing, the employee received a letter informing him of his dismissal on Wednesday, October 1, while undergoing new agent training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Related

Who is Kash Patel, and where does he stand on LGBTQ+ rights?

“You are being summarily dismissed from your position as a New Agent Trainee at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and removed from the federal service,” Patel wrote, according to MSNBC. “After reviewing the facts and circumstances and considering your probationary status, I have determined that you exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in your work area during your previous assignment in the Los Angeles Field Office.”

According to MSNBC, prior to his assignment at Quantico, the employee had worked as an FBI support specialist in L.A. CNN describes his previous job as a non-agent role as a field office diversity program coordinator, and notes that he had received multiple awards for his service, most recently, according to MSNBC, a 2022 Attorney General’s Award. Sources told CNN that he had displayed a Pride flag at his workstation.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

While the October 1 letter, signed by Patel, did not specifically mention the Pride flag, multiple sources familiar with the matter told both CNN and MSNBC that it was the reason behind the trainee’s dismissal.

Two FBI veterans indicated to CNN that under previous administrations, displaying a Pride flag would not have violated any FBI policy. But sources told MSNBC that even before the inauguration in January, FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors were warning each other about displaying items that might indicate their own sexual orientation or support for the LGBTQ+ community. One source told the outlet that after the inauguration, FBI agents warned each other that appointees at the bureau loyal to the president were compiling lists of LGBTQ+ employees.

In late January, following the president’s day-one executive orders banning federal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and declaring that the U.S. would only recognize “two sexes, male and female,” the Justice Department’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group, DOJ Pride, shut down to protect its members.

“In this time of uncertainty and concern, we have taken the extraordinary measure of ceasing operations of DOJ Pride,” a message sent by the group’s board to members said. “We have made this decision in the interest and for the protection of all members.”

As MSNBC notes, the FBI agent trainee’s firing came on the first day of the current federal shutdown. The president and White House director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, have threatened mass firings of federal employees instead of the standard furloughs. As CNN notes, Patel has already been on a firing spree. Most recently, he dismissed 15 FBI agents for taking a knee during a 2020 D.C. protest over the death of George Floyd.

News of the trainee’s firing for displaying a Pride flag has led agents in Washington to scour their workstations and social media for anything that might offend the president and his top MAGA appointees, according to MSNBC.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.