Christian Lifeguard Punished for Removing Pride Flag Is Headed to Trial After Being Told His 'Religious Beliefs Don't Matter' by Gov't Boss - Lawsuit
Remember that part in the Bible where it says Christians must enthusiastically support sodomy at their jobs, because it’s loving their neighbors? Neither do I, but that hasn’t stopped both Los Angeles County and the media from painting it that way.
Now, a lifeguard who says he was punished for not displaying the rainbow flag at his station is suing the county and several supervisors after being suspended 15 days without pay for taking down several flags.
According to Fox News, Captain Jeffrey Little, who has spent over 20 years in the L.A. County Fire Department’s Lifeguard Division, is suing based on religious discrimination regarding the flags.
In his suit, filed in 2024, Little said that both the county and fire department supervisors adopted and enforced a policy beginning in 2023 that required the Progress Pride flag — that’s the one that mixes the rainbow LGBT flag and a separate chevron for transgender people (part of LGBT already, but why let the facts get in our way?) — to be flown thoroughout the month of June in recognition of “pride month.”
“Little, a devout Christian, argued the policy conflicted with his religious beliefs about marriage and sexuality and sought a religious accommodation exempting him from personally raising the flag or ensuring subordinates raised it. Little said the county initially granted this accommodation before revoking it just two days later,” Fox News reported Monday.
In the suit, Little also alleged Lifeguard Division Chief Fernando Boiteux told him that his “religious beliefs don’t matter” when it comes to exemptions to the policy. I understand that comprehending the religious protections in the Constitution isn’t, like, necessary to save drowning people (or to facilitate the saving of drowning people), but it would be nice if he’s in any position of power, and ignorance doesn’t make him any more correct. (Also, given that this is Los Angeles County, I can only assume this boss probably isn’t too good at facilitating saving drowning people, either. I have my reasons.)
“Little says he is not asking the county to end its Pride flag policy but is seeking a permanent religious accommodation exempting him from personally raising the flag or directing others to do so, along with damages and removal of disciplinary findings from his personnel file,” Fox News reported. And, after a federal ruling, he’ll be headed into court with Los Angeles County and several of his supervisors.
A court agreed, saying in a May 8 decision that allowed the case to go forward that “the court found it plausible to infer the county did not engage in good faith efforts to accommodate the employee, which was sufficient to survive the county’s motion to dismiss.”
“At the end of the day, the law requires favored treatment for religious beliefs and the county’s message to him and to others like him that their religious beliefs don’t matter clearly is unconstitutional and discriminatory,” said Paul Jonna of the Thomas More Society, Little’s attorney.
Jonna “told Fox News Digital that Little took down the flags under the belief he was acting within the accommodation granted by the county and with the understanding that some stations were not required to fly the Pride flag because they lacked sufficient clasps under the county’s own flag policy. Jonna said other Pride flags had previously been removed from stations earlier that month for the same reason.”
But have sincere religious beliefs and refuse to abandon them to get a government job? Sorry — that’s not for you. At least, not if you’re a Christian.
Ask how this is being covered in the legacy media, and you couldn’t do better summing it up than this sentence from the Los Angeles Times in June of 2024:
It’s too bad, but probably inevitable, that the Progress Pride flag has become a battleground in the culture war. And it’s too bad that Little didn’t try just a little harder to love his neighbor.
I’m not sure where this definition of love — forced abnegation of religious principles — would be foisted upon any other form of orthodox religious belief. (Judaism, alas, might be joining Christianity in this department, and for even more pernicious reasons.) But it seems to be prevalent among pretty much everyone who doesn’t seem to realize the First Amendment not only was meant to protect Christians, but it still protects them, too
However, watching this crowd try to split the cultural baby would be fun: Can you imagine the chaos in the state offices if this guy had been a Muslim and they had to figure out who to kowtow to more, the LGBT crowd or the Muslim crowd?
And that’s the good news about discovery in this case as it goes forward: We’ll very possibly find out, in very explicit detail, on emails and texts, exactly what they thought about Christian values compared to other worldviews. Nice work, Los Angeles.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
