Captain Jeffrey Little v. Los Angeles County Fire Department, et al.

Thomas More Society is championing the religious liberty rights of Captain Jeffrey Little. Captain Little, a devout Christian father and Lifeguard Captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, is forced to either personally raise the ‘Progress Pride Flag’ during Pride Month or lose the job to which he has dedicated over 22 years of public service. On behalf of Captain Little, Thomas More Society is suing the L.A. County Fire Department for illegally discriminating and retaliating against him after he declined on religious grounds to raise the Progress Pride Flag at his lifeguard station.

In March 2023, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors passed a motion that required all facilities operated by the county to fly the Progress Pride Flag during ‘Pride Month’ in June. In June 2023, Captain Little requested a religious accommodation exempting him from personally raising the flag, as doing so himself would conflict with his sincere Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality. While Little’s request was initially granted on June 19, 2023, it was suddenly revoked on June 21.

In this act of blatant religious discrimination in violation of the U.S. Constitution, as well as state and federal civil rights law, the Fire Department denied Captain Little’s request for a religious accommodation—thumbing its nose at Captain Little’s long history of faithful public service as an L.A. County lifeguard. Following Captain Little’s refusal to raise the Progress Pride Flag, his Division Chief attempted to bring to heel Captain Little—repeating several times that his “religious beliefs do not matter; [he is] an LA county employee.” For expressing his religious beliefs and politely requesting a religious accommodation—one that he is rightfully owed by law—Captain Little was subjected to illegal retaliation and harassment from his supervising officers to the point of receiving a death threat against himself and his daughters as a result of the Fire Departments illegal actions.

Thomas More Society is striking back against the L.A. County Fire Department’s egregious infringement on Captain Little’s religious liberty rights to firmly establish that this sort of religious discrimination has no place in public life. Flags have meaning, and no person should ever be forced to raise a flag that conflicts with his or her sincerely held religious beliefs. Ideologically motivated religious discrimination should never take precedence over a man’s right to live out his faith freely.