I must admit, the case of Los Angeles County lifeguard Capt. Jeffrey Little has me scratching my head.
Little, a veteran lifeguard, filed a religious discrimination, harassment and retaliation lawsuit last month against the county fire department, which includes the lifeguards. Little claims he was forced to work under a rainbow-colored pride flag during June, known as LGBTQ+ Pride Month, in violation of his deep-seated religious beliefs.
Little believes it is a violation of his civil rights to be asked to raise the flag or to supervise the raising of the flag. He also doesn’t seem to want to work on any beach where the flag is flying. The lawsuit is a little vague in these areas.
Regardless, I believe him when he says he is sincerely offended by displays of queer and trans pride. But I also think his stance is bigoted, like those who cite Christian beliefs to explain why they oppose interracial marriage, for example. I don’t like people who use the Bible to deny the humanity of others.
His lawsuit makes little claim that the progressive pride flag in question symbolizes and advances “a range of controversial religious and moral views, including about family, the nature of marriage and human sexuality, including the promotion of certain sexual behaviors, and identity, Nature” . and human purpose. “
sexual behavior? I think he interpreted a lot into a brightly colored fabric swatch.
Little also claimed that he objected to the flag because it “features prominently in gay pride parades around the world, including those in which adults wear virtually no clothes in front of children.”
Excuse me, what are the Los Angeles lifeguards saying?
Hasn’t the good captain noticed how many people are running around nearly naked on the beaches of Los Angeles on a normal sunny day? I mean, you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a bikini and dental floss these days. In fact, it was sometimes hard to tell who was wearing a thong and who was actually naked.
But hey, even lifeguards can be bigots, at least in private, as long as they don’t ask you about your sexual orientation when you’re caught in the rapids.
However, forcing their religious beliefs on the rest of us is where I draw the line. Same-sex marriage was legalized in 2015. Trans people exist and deserve respect. Flying a pride flag is a symbolic way of saying: “You belong here too.”
I think Little’s bosses may have mishandled his complaints; they should have anticipated that their battle with him would provide fodder for an interesting lawsuit, such as one brought by the Thomas More Society, a conservative Catholic legal advocacy group ) lawsuit filed by a cooperating attorney.
The saga began in March 2023, when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to raise the Pride of Progress flag at county facilities every June.
This particular flag is a variation of the Pride flag that debuted in San Francisco in 1978. Bright pink. These colors represent life, healing, sunlight, nature, magic and art, tranquility and spirituality.
The design of the flag has evolved over the years. The widely adopted version of the controversy features black and brown chevron stripes (representing marginalized LGBTQ+ people of color and those dying from HIV/AIDS) and pink, blue and white (incorporating trans symbols).
Interestingly, at least in part of the lawsuit, Little did not challenge the county’s right to raise the flag, allowing “the government to express its own message.” However, he objected to being asked to raise the flag himself.
Initially, he said, the department assigned him a job at a beach where the Pride flag wasn’t flying. (Some lifeguard stations lacked the equipment to display the flag.) But when he arrived for work at Dockweiler State Beach in late June of last year, he found two lifeguard towers and another building with the Pride flag hoisted, he claimed. This amounts to religious discrimination.
His first reaction, he recalled, was confusion, “because I had the impression that I didn’t have to work in these conditions.” Then he lowered the flag.
That’s stupid. As you can imagine, this apparent act of disobedience didn’t go over well with his boss. He said they revoked his immunity to avoid going to beaches with pride flags.
This is a classic power struggle. Little claims lifeguard unit captain Fernando Boiteux, who the lawsuit describes as being much older than Little and “trained in martial arts,” physically and verbally assaulted him. Intimidation. “You need to stop what you’re doing,” Little claimed Butkus told him. “You are a Los Angeles County employee; that’s the only thing that matters. Your religion doesn’t matter.
I don’t know if Buit actually said that – the fire department won’t comment on the case – but of course religious beliefs Do matter. Even if they are outdated, misguided or bigoted.
If Little is correct, his superiors will surely be more diplomatic and less rude in their dealings with him. It might spare them the pain of being sued in federal court at a time when our Supreme Court is codifying religious bigotry into law.
It’s too bad that the progressive pride flag has become a battleground in the culture wars, but it’s probably inevitable. It’s a shame Little didn’t try harder to love his neighbor.
