California has spent years making it illegal to be Christian in the workplace.
Captain Jeffrey Little just found out what that looks like when you wear a badge.
What an LA County official told him when he asked for a religious exemption is now going in front of a jury.
Jeffrey Little Filed a Religious Accommodation Request and LA County Suspended Him for It
When Los Angeles County mandated in 2023 that the Progress Pride flag fly at every county facility throughout June, Captain Jeffrey Little filed a formal written religious accommodation request.
He used the process the law provides.
His Christian faith prevented him from personally raising the flag or directing subordinates to raise it.
The county approved the request.
Two days later, they took it back.
Little then removed several flags from stations he believed lacked the required hardware under the county's own flag policy – thinking his accommodation was still in force.
What followed was a formal investigation, a 15-day unpaid suspension, and adverse findings permanently attached to his service record.
His attorney, Paul Jonna of the Thomas More Society, documented what sharpens the case considerably: other lifeguards who vandalized and desecrated pride flags walked away with shorter suspensions or no discipline at all.
The captain who went through official legal channels got the harshest punishment in the division.
LA County Chief Told Captain Little His Religious Beliefs Don't Matter and a Judge Sent It to Trial
Lifeguard Division Chief Fernando Boiteux allegedly looked Captain Little in the face and told him: "Your religious beliefs don't matter."
LA County has denied it was ever said.
Last week, a federal judge reviewed the competing accounts and issued a sealed ruling – partially granting and partially denying summary judgment from both sides – clearing the case for trial.
A judge grants summary judgment only when no reasonable jury could decide otherwise.
The judge declined.
The evidence supporting Little's account was strong enough to survive, and both sides now go before a jury in open court.
Jonna put the governing standard plainly: "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."
The 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Groff v. DeJoy made Little's legal position considerably stronger.
The Court unanimously threw out the standard that let employers deny religious accommodations for almost any reason, ruling that employers must now demonstrate a substantial, real-world burden before saying no.
Thomas More Society filings made the math explicit: accommodating Captain Little would "barely register as a rounding error" in LA County's billion-dollar annual budget.
The Supreme Court Already Ruled on Religious Discrimination Cases Like This One
California government institutions have developed a habit of treating Christian employees' faith as an administrative obstacle.
Jack Phillips ran a bakery in Colorado and spent a decade fighting after the state came after him twice – once over a homosexual wedding cake, once over a gender transition cake.
He won both times.
In Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2021 that Philadelphia violated the First Amendment when it stripped Catholic Social Services' contract specifically because the agency held traditional views on marriage.
Philadelphia had an exemption process – they just refused to use it for Catholics.
LA County approved Jeffrey Little's exemption and pulled it back two days later.
The Supreme Court has ruled against that pattern repeatedly and unanimously.
Little is not asking the county to take down a single flag.
He wants three things: a permanent exemption from pride flag duties, removal of the adverse findings from his personnel file, and damages.
When a government official tells a Christian his faith doesn't matter, the Constitution has an answer for that.
A jury is about to deliver it.
Sources:
- Zain Khan, "Twist in Case of Christian Lifeguard Suspended for Refusing Pride Flag Duties," New York Post, May 25, 2026.
- Kristine Parks, "Christian Lifeguard Who Refused Pride Flag Duties and Was Suspended Is Now Headed Toward Trial," Fox News, May 25, 2026.
- Thomas More Society, "Christian Lifeguard Captain Seeks Federal Court Ruling Against L.A. County for Punishing His Religious Beliefs," thomasmoresociety.org, May 2026.
- Kristine Parks, "LA County Grants Partial Religious Exemption to Christian Lifeguard After Pride Flag Dispute," Fox News, June 2024.
- Supreme Court of the United States, Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447 (2023).
- Supreme Court of the United States, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, 593 U.S. 522 (2021).
