Gay former FBI official sues Kash Patel & Pam Bondi for Pride flag firinghttps://www.advocate.com/news/kash-patel-lgbtq-flag-lawsuit 🔗Christopher Wiggins (19 Nov 2025)
A former FBI intelligence specialist who spent more than 16 years inside the bureau is suing FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the FBI, and the Department of Justice, alleging he was unlawfully fired for displaying a Progress Pride flag.
The 18-page complaint, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asserts that David M. Maltinsky was summarily dismissed from the FBI Academy on October 1, 2025, just three weeks before he was scheduled to graduate as a special agent. He alleges the termination was unconstitutional and politically motivated, arguing that Patel targeted him for protected expression and for being "a proud gay man."
According to the lawsuit, the dismissal came without warning. Maltinsky had completed 16 of the FBI Academy's 19-week Basic Field Training Course and had passed all major legal and physical benchmarks. That night, he was escorted to an executive suite and handed a letter signed by Patel stating he was being removed "under my authority as FBI Director" for an "inappropriate display of political signage" during his previous assignment at the Los Angeles Field Office, the complaint states. The only signage he displayed, his lawyers wrote, was the Progress Pride flag.
