Christian lifeguard can't handle standing near a Pride flag, sues Los Angeles

A Christian lifeguard is suing the city of Los Angeles for "severe emotional distress" after he was stationed near a Pride flag last year.

Jeffery Little, who has worked for the city for 22 years, filed a lawsuit on Friday claiming he is being discriminated against for his evangelical faith by being made to stand in the same vicinity as the Progress Pride flag. Little alleges he was suspended from his role with the department’s background investigation unit last year after he took down three LGBTQ+ flags during Pride month.

The Los Angeles county board of supervisors voted last year to require the rainbow banner be flown during the month of June at government buildings, which includes lifeguard stands. Little, who claimed the flags present a “direct conflict” with his religious beliefs, fought to be placed at stations that would not fly the flag, as they did not have the right flag poles to fly any banner.

Little arrived to his station at Dockweiler Beach on June 21, 2023 and found three nearby facilities displaying the flag, ordered by the lifeguard division's chief, according to the complaint. After he removed them, Little said he was given a "direct order" from the chief to ensure the flag was displayed throughout the month.

Little is accusing the department of “religious discrimination” and “retaliation," alleging that officials did not “substantively engage" with his objections and instead threatened "discipline and eventual termination for failure to raise the Progress Pride flag.” He is asking for damages based on "severe emotional distress" and a “standing exemption” from raising the flag.

The lifeguard seemed particularly triggered by the turquoise and pink stripes on the original Pride flag designed by Gilbert Baker, which represent magic and sex, respectively. Those two stripes are, notably, not on the Progress Pride flag, the subject of Little's suit. Still, Little claimed that queer identity goes against the "purpose of the human person."

“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," the lawsuit reads. "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.”

Little typically works at Will Rogers Beach, long considered a safe space among LGBTQ+ beach goers. The beach is so popular with queer residents and visitors that it earned the nickname "Ginger Rogers Beach."