David Maltinsky spent 16 years serving the FBI. He joined after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, motivated by tragedy to dedicate his life to public service. He completed 16 weeks of a 19-week special agent training program. He was three weeks from graduation.

Then Kash Patel fired him over a Pride flag.

Not just any flag — one the FBI itself had flown outside its Los Angeles field office and later gave to Maltinsky in recognition of his years of work supporting LGBTQ+ employees. When a complaint was filed, his supervisor told him the display was "entirely permissible and appropriate." The field office's own legal counsel found it violated no FBI policy, rule, or regulation.

None of that mattered. Patel fired him anyway, calling the flag "political signage" and citing "poor judgment." Meanwhile, employees displaying thin blue line flags, Gadsden flags, and Punisher skull imagery faced no consequences — some of those same symbols appear on challenge coins Patel himself has distributed.

Maltinsky has now filed a federal lawsuit alleging discrimination and retaliation, and his attorneys are fighting to get the case into discovery before records disappear and memories fade. The Justice Department is working to block them.

He warned that news of his firing spread immediately through the bureau, causing employees to remove Pride flags and personal items from their desks. A new Lavender Scare, he said, is spreading "like wildfire."

David Maltinsky served honorably. He deserved to graduate. Sign this petition to demand he be reinstated and that the full record of his firing be made public.