A rainbow lifeguard tower on Venice Beach, Los Angeles
A rainbow lifeguard tower on Venice Beach, Los Angeles (Photo: Shutterstock)

A California lifeguard has launched legal action after a beach he’s usually deployed at erected rainbow flags for Pride Month last year. His action comes just days before Pride Month 2024.

Jeffrey Little has worked for Los Angeles County for two decades. He earned more than $200,000, last year according to AFP.

He works mainly at Will Rogers Beach. This particular stretch of coastline is known to attract a large number of gay sun seekers. It’s affectionately dubbed ‘Ginger Rogers Beach’.

Last year, country supervisors voted to display the rainbow flag during Pride Month on public buildings. This included lifeguard huts.

Little says he told supervisors he wanted to be exempt from flying the Progress Pride flag (that’s the one with black, brown, and trans flag stripes).

According to Little’s lawyers, “On June 19, 2023, the Los Angeles County Fire Department initially granted Little’s request and promised him that he would neither have to raise the Progress Pride Flag himself, nor personally ensure that the flag is raised at his station. Little’s religious accommodation was rescinded two days later on June 21, 2023.”

Lifeguard takes down the rainbow flags

Little turned up to work at Will Rogers and saw that some rainbow flags had been dropped off by supervisors and were flying.

Little complained, writing to supervisors in a complaint last summer, “I was confused… why they were flying as I was under the impression that I would not have to deal with working in these conditions.”

He then took the three flags down. He then received a direct order from supervisors telling him to make sure the flags went up for Pride Month.

It appears he’s been at loggerheads with his employer’s HR department since that time. He recently sent letters requesting a religious exemption from handling Pride flags this coming June. The lawsuit says no religious exemption was forthcoming. It is suing on the basis of discrimination based on religious belief.

Little is working with the Thomas More Society, an organization that specializes in religious freedom cases. It claims the Los Angeles County Fire Department “illegally threatened Little with dismissal over his refusal to raise the ‘Progress Pride Flag.”

“Captain Little has no choice but to seek judicial relief. To date, the Fire Department has not substantively engaged at all with Captain Little on any of the concerns raised in his communications, nor has the Fire Department even expressed an openness to mediate in the interest of avoiding litigation and preserving judicial resources.”

“Sex” and “magic”

The 135-page lawsuit points to the fact, “The Progress Pride Flag symbolizes and advances a range of disputed viewpoints, both religious and moral, regarding the family, the nature of marriage and human sexuality, the promotion of certain sexual practices, and the identity, nature, and purpose of the human person. Additionally, particular aspects of the Progress Pride Flag were originally intended by its creators, and echoed by the Board in its motion, to signify ‘sex,’ ‘magic,’ and ‘spirit’, among other ideological and spiritual notions.”

This last line is a reference to the fact that Gilbert Baker, who designed the original rainbow flag in 1978, denoted characteristics for each of the eight stripes. This includes hot pink for ‘sex’ and turquoise for ‘magic’. Both colors were later dropped to simplify the flag to six stripes (purple, signifying spirit, remains).

Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society Special Counsel and Partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, said in a press statement, “Captain Jeffrey Little is an upstanding American, a devout Christian father, and a public servant who has honorably served the Los Angeles County Fire Department for over 22 years.

“The L.A. County Fire Department seeks to force Captain Little to personally raise the Progress Pride Flag in violation of his sincere and deeply held religious beliefs—or face termination.”

A representative for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which oversees lifeguards, told AFP that it cannot comment on personnel issues or ongoing litigation.

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