FBI fired veteran employee for displaying Pride flag, lawsuit says

A former employee at the Federal Bureau of Investigation is suing the bureau and the Justice Department, saying he was fired for displaying a Pride flag in his workspace.

David Maltinsky, who had worked with the FBI for more than 16 years, was training to become a special agent when he received a letter informing him that he had been terminated last month, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The letter, signed by FBI Director Kash Patel, said Maltinsky had “exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in [his] work area during [his] previous assignment at the Los Angeles Field Office,” according to the lawsuit. Maltinsky told superiors that he believed the letter referred to the Pride flag as he had no other “signage” at this workspace.

Maltinsky, who is gay, worked in an operational support role and then an intelligence role at the FBI before commencing his agent training, and he had supported the FBI’s diversity initiatives following the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016 — work that the FBI “encouraged and honored” him for, according to the lawsuit.

“In special recognition” of this work, the lawsuit states, the Los Angeles Field Office gave him two Pride flags that had flown outside of the office, one of which he displayed at his workstation, alongside a placard explaining the flag’s history and meaning.

In January 2025, an FBI employee at the office reported a concern about the flag to Maltinsky’s supervisor, who told Maltinsky that, “in the supervisor’s view, the display of the flag was entirely permissible and appropriate.”

“Out of an abundance of caution, Maltinsky requested that the Chief Division Counsel for the LAFO review whether the display of the Progress Pride flag and placard was permissible,” the lawsuit said. “The Chief Division Counsel advised Maltinsky that the display of the flag and placard did not violate any policy, rule, or regulation.”

In April, Maltinsky was informed he was successful in his application to become an FBI special agent, and he removed the flag in June while clearing out his workstation before the start of his 19-week training program at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, the lawsuit said, adding that he was three weeks away from graduating when he received the termination letter.

“Maltinsky displayed a flag provided to him by the FBI at his own personal workstation, speaking entirely as a private individual and with the permission of his superiors,” the lawsuit argued. It added that federal employees have been permitted to display other emblems — including the Revolutionary War-era Gadsden flag, which is frequently used to express anti-government sentiment, and signage showing the American flag with a blue line that is associated with support for law enforcement.

In an e-mailed statement shared by his legal team Thursday, Maltinsky said he had displayed the flag “not as a political statement, but as a symbol of inclusion, unity, and equal service. These are the values that once made the FBI strong. Now it is a place where people like me are targeted. I believe I was fired not because of who I am, but what I am: a proud gay man.”

The complaint, which was filed against the FBI, Patel, the Justice Department and Attorney General Pam Bondi, said that Maltinsky’s dismissal violated his First and Fifth Amendment rights and asked the court to reinstate him and award him back pay as appropriate. The FBI and Justice Department did not immediately respond to overnight requests for comment.

“This administration’s unlawfully firing him is part of a larger campaign to rid federal agencies of employees who may have different viewpoints, or are from marginalized groups, or who dare speak out against discrimination,” Maltinsky’s co-counsel, Kerrie Riggs, said in an e-mailed statement. “David’s fight is not just about him, but about securing the rights and freedoms of all federal employees.”

There have been other claims of politically motivated dismissals under the Trump administration.

In September, the FBI’s former acting director Brian Driscoll and two other former senior FBI officials filed a federal lawsuit alleging that they were unlawfully fired. According to The Washington Post, the FBI has also fired several agents involved in the investigation that led up to the special counsel case against Donald Trump and another group of agents who were photographed kneeling with protesters in Washington during the 2020 racial justice protests following the police killing of George Floyd.