Angry Democratic lawmakers slam ‘despicable’ Kash Patel for firing FBI agent over LGBTQ+ Pride flag

On the first day of the federal government shutdown, FBI Director Kash Patel dismissed a trainee agent after learning that the person had displayed a rainbow Pride flag at their desk during a prior assignment in Los Angeles during the Biden administration.

The move, first reported by MSNBC’s Carol Leonnig, a multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with deep law enforcement sourcing, highlights what civil-rights advocates describe as a sweeping campaign by the Trump administration to purge LGBTQ+ employees and dismantle decades of inclusion efforts in federal service.

In a letter dated October 1, Patel invoked President Donald Trump’s claimed Article II powers to fire career personnel without the traditional due process.

Patel informed the trainee: “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.” The letter, obtained by MSNBC and delivered on the first day of a nationwide government shutdown that had already created job uncertainty across the federal workforce, accused the employee of poor judgment.

“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,” Patel wrote, without directly referencing the flag itself.

The signage referenced in the letter, according to people familiar with the case, was a small Pride flag, MSNBC reports.

The dismissal stunned many within the Bureau, particularly because the trainee was a decorated employee who had coordinated diversity programming in a field office and received awards for service, including the Attorney General’s Award in 2022.

Out in National Security responds

Luke Schleusener, CEO of Out in National Security, condemned the decision, calling it “a clear act of bias and a warning to public servants and allies who believe they should be free to show support for LGBTQIA+ Americans at work.” He told The Advocate that “in a free society, government employees should never fear retaliation for such a simple act of solidarity and pride.”

Schleusener added that the firing was not an isolated incident. Federal employees have already been targeted for Pride lanyards and flags, and contractors and staff working on LGBTQ+ issues have been dismissed across multiple agencies. He pointed to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ recent restrictions on Pride displays at its clinics as part of what he described as a “Second Lavender Scare … in which LGBTQIA+ public servants and their allies are singled out and silenced.”

“History is clear: prejudice is not strength but weakness,” Schleusener said. “It does not make America safer or stronger. It corrodes trust and undermines the values of fairness and freedom that our national security depends on.”

What federal law says

Patel’s justification also appears to conflict with federal workplace rules. In July 2023, the Office of Personnel Management issued guidance reminding agencies that employees may display personal religious or secular symbols at their desks, provided that these rules are applied neutrally and without favoritism. According to the memo, if an agency permits a Bible, rosary, or crucifix, it cannot simultaneously forbid a Pride flag or another identity-affirming symbol.

“That same protection extends to secular expressions, such as flags representing LGBTQ+ identity, disability awareness, or ethnic heritage,” The Mindful Federal Employee blog reported.

The Human Rights Campaign responded to the firing on social media, writing, If true, this is the latest example of Donald Trump, Kash Patel, and the entire administration weaponizing the federal government to silence speech and deny our LGBTQ+ community’s existence. Plus, it’s illegal."

The group added, "Federal employees do not lose basic 1st Amendment protections. If you can be targeted for your expression, no one is safe."

Congressional Democrats weigh in

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has direct oversight of the FBI, sharply criticized Patel’s action. “LGBTQ+ should be able to serve their country openly and proudly,” Josh Sorbe, spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, told The Advocate. “Rather than policing desk displays, Kash Patel should focus on keeping our nation safe. Senate Judiciary Democrats will continue to hold the Trump-Patel FBI accountable as this FBI Director tragically deprofessionalizes and weaponizes the world’s strongest law enforcement agency.”

Gay California U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, went further, charging that the firing fits into a broader purge. “Trump and his Administration have been obsessively trying to purge our community from the federal workforce since they took power. This firing is just their next attack,” Takano told The Advocate in a statement. He pointed to agencies rolling back nondiscrimination protections, disbanding LGBTQI+ employee resource groups, and censoring Pride celebrations. “It’s not just censorship, they’re also firing people for simply being LGBTQI+ or doing work that supports the LGBTQI+ community. These despicable acts are just another example of how commonplace anti-LGBTQI+ discrimination is in this Administration.”

U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also condemned the firing.

“President Trump is attacking free speech and trying to quash any expression that he feels threatened by. Director Patel just further confirmed he’s willing to do his bidding,” Durbin said in a statement provided to The Advocate. “If you’re an LGBTQ+ person who wants to help protect our country at the FBI, you should be able to do so openly and with pride. We’re all on the same team—America’s team."

He added, “Director Patel’s tenure has left America less safe, less free, and less secure. I will continue to fight to keep our FBI strong and hold this Administration accountable.”

Patel’s contentious tenure

The firing also comes just weeks after Patel faced more than four hours of bruising testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Democrats accused him of politicizing the Bureau and carrying out loyalty purges. Lawmakers pressed Patel about a string of high-profile controversies, including his confusing public statements after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, his management of Jeffrey Epstein–related files, and the ouster of FBI officials tied to investigations involving Trump.

In one exchange, Durbin, the committee’s top Democrat, called Patel “arguably the most partisan FBI director ever” and accused him of directing a purge of senior officials even before his confirmation. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told Patel he was “not long for [his] job,” while California Sen. Adam Schiff, in a heated clash, branded Patel “an internet troll” after Patel called him “a political buffoon.”

Despite the withering criticism, Patel insisted his personnel decisions were “based on merit and qualification.” But the firing of a trainee over a Pride flag raises new questions about whether those firings are rooted in bias rather than performance.

A Broader campaign

The firing also comes after earlier restrictions on LGBTQ+ visibility inside the bureau. In May, The Advocate reported that FBI leadership barred any official Pride Month observances, instructing agents that there should be “no official FBI actions, events, or messaging regarding Pride Month.” An internal email from Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson told employees they could only celebrate “in their personal capacity” and on their own time. That directive rolled back policies from the Biden era, when the bureau not only flew the Pride flag at its Washington, D.C., headquarters but also encouraged agents to participate in local Pride events as part of outreach to LGBTQ+ communities.

This week’s dismissal did not occur in isolation. AL.com reports that Patel previously fired about 20 agents who had been photographed kneeling during racial-justice protests after the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

The episode also coincides with Patel’s move, reported by The Washington Post, to sever the Bureau’s decades-long partnership with the Anti-Defamation League. That relationship, which had included mandatory hate-crimes and Holocaust-education workshops for new agents, was dismantled after Patel denounced the ADL as a “political front.”

Echoes of the Lavender Scare

The last time federal agencies terminated LGBTQ+ people for their identity was during the Lavender Scare of the 1950s, when thousands of government employees lost their jobs simply for being suspected of homosexuality. That campaign of mass firings, which paralleled the Red Scare targeting suspected communists, devastated careers and forced many into secrecy.

The trauma of that era was dramatized in Fellow Travelers, the Showtime series that followed two men caught in the intersection of politics, McCarthyism, and anti-gay witch hunts. The show illustrated not only the personal toll of those purges but also the corrosive impact on democracy when loyalty tests are tied to identity.

For critics of Patel’s decision, the parallels are unmistakable.