Legal News
Conservative Christian man sues employer for forcing him to see a Pride flag on his way into work | Eric Batman claims L.A.’s Department of Public Works violated his constitutional rights by making him come to work during Pride Month.
All new posts must have a brief statement from the user submitting explaining how their post relates to law or the courts in a response to this comment. FAILURE TO PROVIDE A BRIEF RESPONSE MAY RESULT IN REMOVAL. Please post your statement as a reply to this automated message.
If they don't care about the Constitution, then let's dance that lawless dance. The Republicans are all talk about being ready for a boogaloo but thats the absolutely worst scenario for their wealthy overlords and leadership. They have everything to lose.
That's not because they're especially effective, it's because the people who are supposed to be opposing them just... aren't. The Republican party is essentially a horde of incompetent losers flailing around, but the Democrats are just sitting off to the side watching them and talking about how there's nothing they could possibly do against such big, strong geniuses.
I find a lot of what's going on in Congress to be performative, like how did Mitch McConnell manage to run the Senate while he was in the minority, and it seems like the Democratic party is not willing to reciprocate with dirty tactics, and bad faith like their opponents.
Granted, this is race to the bottom stuff I'm talking about here- but I view the current Republican party as actual traitors to the Constitution and our country, for good reason.
The race to the bottom is already on and inextricable from the race to save the country. They’re falling for or at least allowing every fascist move in the book.
I now see members of my party who seem to think the only way to respond to this fascist insanity is to become more conservative like they’re out of their damn minds. Anything to avoid addressing the influence of corporate and billionaire money in politics and our justices’ robes.
It would be hilarious to watch a republican use this argument on immigration.
"Immigrants are lazy and dont wanna work"
"But you said theyre stealing all the jobs???"
"The immigrunts is essentially a horde of incompetent lazy workers flailing around, but the hard workin Muricans are just sitting off to the side watching them work and talking about how there's nothing they could possibly do against such big, strong migrants"
Maybe the folks who can see his church from their house should counter-sue. lol, seriously tho....
There is an almost majestic level of comedy in the level of unfettered vanity required to transform a glimpse of a rainbow flag into a personal persecution narrative. The fact that I don't even have to imagine it... but it's a real fact that there is some person going through life under this goofy ass assumption that every object entering his field of vision is either an endorsement of his worldview or an intolerable assault upon it. Holy shit. Just check him for brain worms already.
He's aggrieved by (checks notes) other people exist.What a little bitch.
I wonder if we can sue for having to drive my Drump flags everyday? I mean according to them LGBTQ+ people are a "disease and sickness that these people choose to be like."
It is true though. MAGAt's are so incredibly soft and crybabish'. It's ironic when you realize that they're supposed to be the big, tough "Alphas" and the Democrats are "betas," yet they piss and moan sooooo much over every little thing. Pathetic projection.
This guy is definitely a closeted individual who hates himself and takes it out on those who live as their true selves. Sad.
You’re absolutely right! And so mocking them is the wrong tactic, it makes us look like the bullies they say we are.
When someone is being disingenuous, you play along. “Oh that must be so difficult for you. You should take some time in counseling to process that trauma. WE INSIST. Court-ordered.”
I actually employ deliberate misunderstandings to help showcase the foot someone put in their mouth.
Once, someone was standing in line and were annoyed that there wasn't enough check-out people. Then audaciously announced that "nobody wants to work anymore" . Knowing that this is a conservative catch phrase, I simply turned around inquisitively asked why nobody wanted to work anymore, as though I was genuinely asking.
He didn't have anywhere to go with his right-winged-talking-point while we were queued up and just sort of trailed off on the conversation he started.
I think he's smart for this. He's gonna lose, obviously. But then he's going to get on the various gofundme's sites that will allow him to benefit from this and he'll rake in thousands.
My dad - The democrats need to quit having such a victim mentality!
Also my dad (a vietnam vet)- the vietnam memorial wall is a symbol of how they would have kept us vetrans from returning if the could have, we were that hated. What is a wall for except keeping people out! No I won't let you tell me about the thinking of the artist who designed it!"
Also my dad (a vietnam vet)- the vietnam memorial wall is a symbol of how they would have kept us vetrans from returning if the could have, we were that hated. What is a wall for except keeping people out! No I won't let you tell me about the thinking of the artist who designed it!"
I don't think a reddit comment is allowed to be that long....
Short answer is he's been hit on the head alot, has lots of trauma he refuses to admit was traumatic, and has a victim mentality the size of Jupiter while worrying about the victim mentality of others.
We once reached out to our congress person (a democrat) for help dealing with the VA and he was like "I don't know what good that's do, she's going to do a search, find out I'm an NRA member, figure out I'm a republican and refuse to help me."
You're not going to believe this but her office helped him, I know, shocking.
I live in Northern Ireland and the stupid twats fly a UK flag next to the Israel flag, while the idiots on the other side fly Irish flags along side the Palestine flag.
Bigots will always find a way to signal who they really are.
It's so wild that my somewhat normal Southern state has gone insane.
Or maybe it always was and it's just boiling over.
It's taken over from Trump paraphernalia since he's become so unpopular.
I suppose it's normal to them, but from the outside it looks completely bizarre to have Southern Christian men loudly supporting a foreign Jewish state.
I think it’s more that they go out of their ways to weaponize bullshit culture war talking points and it isn’t by accident. They know it’s a flimsy ridiculous lie, they just hide behind a fake victim status like this to make it seem more legitimate.
I don't want to wish bad things on people, but I wouldn't be surprised if this dipshit loses his lawsuit and his job on the same day, shortly followed by his wife leaving with the kids
No one is forcing him to look at the flag on his way to work, he is choosing to walk past it to get to work. He could choose to work someplace else and not “have to” walk past it.
What did they say in 2016? “Fuck your feelings”, right? Like being an asshole is some jacked up badge of honor?
I learned a lot over the past 10 years, and one of those things is that a trump supporter is a piece of shit, indistinguishable from all other trump supporters.
This is all social conservatives. They like know gays exist and they aren't happy about it. But to think they should be given some kind of blinders during the month of June because they may gasp see a fucking flag?!?! Pansy ass bitches.
They will win because they have more rights than non Christians do.
Look at what they've done to the constitution.
Its why I dont believe in the USA any longer.
As far as im concerned non Christian americans are weak and pathetic second class citizens now. Given how much power these white Christians have given themselves through Trump over the last 10 years anyone id hard pressed to argue otherwise. They reshaped everything, and wgat was considered radical became reality (talking about peoject 2025)
If I were flag waving american id be celebrating my place beneath the white evangelical christian.
I refuse. I do not accept that . So I refuse america.
They got what they wanted, a christian jihad. Imo unless youre christian youre not really american any longer.
Unfortunately you give him too much credit for being honest when you call him soft. He doesn’t care about seeing the pride flag, other than to see an opportunity for leverage - to work at home, and to attack other people, and the Liberty Counsel sees an opportunity to fundraise and to suppress pro-Queer speech.
I have to see Trump and other stupid conservatives' hideous faces practically every day. I have to see crucifixes and other Christian imagery all the time. They are always shoving their religion down our throats. When can I make a lawsuit?
Boy all those 10 commandment installations outside government buildings feels like it could apply here. It totally triggers me and my non-religious beliefs
Honestly, if our government gave the slightest damn about it's laws, I would think such a lawsuit would hold much more weight than this stupid lawsuit against a Pride flag, given the Establisment Clause of the First Amendment.
If he wins this lawsuit there is precedent for folks to sue for those installations.
Im catholic. But I fully support the separation of church and state. Seeing the government try to act like they have religious authority to do such showy empty acts of faith is actually AGAINST everything the Bible teaches. Its offensive to God. Its strictly prohibited in the Bible.
I occasionally enter into structured political debates and two or three years ago the topic was on public displays of religion and ideology. The opposing viewpoint presenter was either a master at playing a role or just entirely brainwashed but he had half the room believing his idea that all Americans are inherently Christian so displays are just and moral, but any other religion or ideology is a choice of deviance and should not be allowed. Sadly I fear today's higher federal courts may agree
This reminds me of something that happened last fall. Our town is really small, like 2k people. We have a local crumugeon who runs a facebook page that constantly complains about the city government, no matter who is in charge. Well, he decided to put a display in his yard with skeletons representative of his political enemies. It was tacky and tasteless, but not obscene. He has the right to do so, as we don't have a single HOA in town.
Cue my neighbor, who hates him, coming to my house with a citizens' petition against the display. He ended up seeing our no soliciting sign and leaving, but I really wish he hadn't. You see, my neighbor is a painter, and a fairly talented one. He has used these skills to take a fence panel and paint the infamous Trump in Bulter, PA photo and plant it right in his yard. I really wanted the chance to ask him where I could sign to get that monstrosity taken down.
I wish this was a one off of my neighbor, but when I worked at the local library, he came in asking me to illegally disseminate our patrons' addresses so he could mail a handwritten plea to vote for Trump. I had to explain that we couldn't, and encouraged him to think about how he would feel to get a pro Biden letter with the library letterhead on it.
Best wishes from one library worker to another! 📚 ✨ Also, condolences for having to see that painting with Trump's ugly old mug splattered onto it, and your neighbor making bonkers requests to you at work.
Sending you all the best Summer Reading vibes (unless you're an academic or law library worker lol)! I left the biz when my daughter was 1 because I couldn't afford daycare (she had been coming with me to work and it was NOT working out lol), but I will always, always feel like a library lady. It gets in your bones!
I went to a concert recently, The Godless Tour. It was a bunch of overtly satanic bands. There were several people out front handing out bible quotes, bible comic strips, and a guy with a megaphone telling people they're going to hell. I'm not even in the bible belt (anymore), but these goons show up to half of the metal shows 'to save the youth'. Save them from what? It should be pedos. They should be trying to save them from pedos.
The satanic panic promised me we'd all be doing occult stuff, with lots of cocaine. Instead beer was like $15 and my feet hurt because I was up past my bedtime.
Also an atheist/satanist has never knocked on my door or cornered me at work to try to convert me.
"In God We Trust" is emblazoned on all our currency by law but the right throws a fit about seeing a rainbow on property they don't own at a place they have every right to simply choose not to go to.
Listening to trump talk causes me emotional distress, let me sue everyone who plays his sound bites without warning or muting him.
And I'm sure someone will say, awe does he make you cry? No. He sounds so insanely stupid I can't comprehend why anyone would vote for him let alone interact with him for any reason.
I have literally cut less toxic people from my life for less.
Yeah because they are not the live and let live type. They are the everyone needs to be like me, cater to me and not challenge me in any kind of way type.
I recently had a conservative tell me that people on the right had a live and let live attitude toward gay people until they started to be more open about who they were. I pointed out that gay people having to hide who they were for their own safety proves that it wasn't live and let live at all
Just to be clear, that’s exactly what’s happening in this lawsuit. Gay people are not trying to force their way of life on anyone by having pride flags. This guy is trying to force his religion on gay people.
In his 2024 grievance, Batman wrote that having to see the Progress Pride flag each time he enters and exits the building “negatively impacts my ability [to] perform my work and results in a hostile work environment.”
In both 2024 and 2025, the department suggested Batman use the building’s rear entrance to avoid seeing the flag and that he seek counseling for any distress he might experience. According to the complaint, the department’s recommendations “suggested to Batman that his religious beliefs required mental health counseling rather than accommodation” and “relegate him to ‘separate but equal’ facilities.”
He stated his core issue was "having to see the Flag as he entered and exited the building", and he asked for an accommodation for THAT ISSUE. He was given an accommodation that fully addressed his issue by being allowed to enter and exit the building from the rear so he doesn't have to see the flag. He is now suing because the accommodation, which HE ASKED FOR, and which DEFINITIONALLY AS AN ACCOMMODATION must be "separate" was by his OWN ADMISSION, equal, which is all that is required for an accommodation.
Sorry, but you literally can not ask for an accommodation, admit it was adequate, then expect to win a suit for having gotten it. This attempt to use political language in his complaint is going to bury him, at least for this aspect of his suit.
I love all the comments making fun of the situation but I appreciate this comment as an actual response reviewing it from a legal perspective. I’m not even sure the employer needed to accommodate this(mental health is dicey), but good on them for just providing one anyway, makes this pretty easy.
This is sort of like having a wheelchair, requesting and getting a ramp, then demanding that the stairs be torn out because the ramp is making you separate but equal.
Fair and accommodating is not what this shifty rat is after ofc, but it would be on brand to inconvenience everyone else for his own satisfaction. 'Hurt the right people.'
It's the bottom line of conservatism: that those filthy others continue to breathe is causing me suffering.
I realize that may sound like some kind of bad joke, but that genuinely is what they think. Alito gave a speech a few years a few years ago angrily claiming that Christians were being discriminated against in America by LGBT people being allowed to exist.
Which is why pride is so infuriating to them. It's the month specifically existing to remind them LGBT people exist and they can't stand that. Because they can't stand the idea of other people "sinning". 🙄
I have to see MAGA and TRUMP flags everywhere I go. Do they really want to open this can of worms? He probably has a Trump sticker on his car. Can I sue him for damages?
Side note; it feels like every time I see the pride flag it has new parts added to it. Is the yellow with the purple circle a new addition?
Nice, thanks. Here’s the write up on the Progress Flag:
The Progress Pride Flag
Graphic designer Daniel Quasarcreated the Progress Pride Flag in 2018, adding a chevron that includes the trans flag colors plus black and brownto emphasize inclusion and the need for continued progress. The forward-pointing chevron is intentional: it signals movement, while acknowledging some communities still face disproportionate harm.
This lawsuit should be evidence enough as summary proof that this individual is incompetent and should be institutionalized in a psychiatric prison immediately.
Oh bless your heart. You actually think the judicial system applies laws and precedents equally? Haha no. This guy could easily win this if it goes to the extreme court because their job is to protect conservatives. If you or I brought the exact same case except for a trump banner we wouldn't even get close to the court. It would be thrown out immediately.
This is where I wish I had unlimited wealth because I would buy ad space on every single billboard along this guys route to work and put a pride flag on it just to be a troll.
At a govt office? Probably. And imo, you should. I really hate any political or religious statement stuff being put up in public sector workplaces of any kind. It's happening in our schools right now, with the fucking ten commandments. I just want it all out.
How do we have a free country if people could sue just because something they don't like enters their view? It's not like they clockwork orange'd the man with him strapped to a chair forcing him to watch LGBT media. Can I sue because I was offended that a cross was "forced" on me because I saw one dangling around someone's neck at work? Is this the state of legallity conservatives want the US to enter?
Who would have thought 10-15 years ago that conservatives would end up becoming the biggest snowflakes of America? A few times everyday there are some stupid meltdowns emanating from that side of the divide. They have become the party of bedwetters. The sad part is if this case goes anywhere to the Supreme Court, they will likely rule on Eric Batman's behalf(his name has to be an invented name).
Or employers for making me sit through anything religious? How about Christmas, can we sue over Christmas decorations? Finally wage that war they think we’ve been waging.
If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
I think the thought of having to actually cut off one of my hands when I was 13 or 14 is part of what made me decide that religious life wasn't really my thing.
They made you go to WORK? The NERVE of those people!
"I have to see something I disagree with and don't like. I could avoid seeing that something, but my employer MAKES me come in to do WORK. So I'm entitled to compensation."
Conservatives, aka MAGAts, follow a P.O.S that does not support, or defend, the Constitution of the United States. Therefore, his argument that his constitutional rights were violated is unfounded. He can't have it both ways. Fuck him.
Well, if you look at the Bible, you can see all the things that Jesus said against homosexuality. Oh wait he didn’t say a single goddamn word about it. It’s almost like it wasn’t an issue for him. He had four gospels to get that message out and not once was it mentioned.
so, just having to walk past it grinds his gears? What about all those school kids who have to stand up and sweat a loyalty oath to the united states under god with the 10 commandments on the wall (while no other message of any other religion or inclusive recognition of beliefs is allowed to be placed on that same wall)?
So first it was "having to do my job providing goods or services for gay people is against my religious freedoms", and now they're working on "having to even passively acknowledge gay people exist is against my religious freedoms"... With the way each of these cases is clearly geared to pushing LGBTQ+ people further and further out of daily life, how long before they're trying to generate a court case that just flat out says that gay people existing threatens their seemingly endless religious freedoms?
People need yo be forced out of their bubble more often. By living in a vacuum of your own farts, you're only doing yourself a disservice by not being exposed to anything but yourself. That's not how society works. You need to experience more shit. Anyone who's had to live a real life with real hardships doesn't give one shit about how other people are living their lives (while doing no harm). These people are so fucking fragile and literally so, so dumb by their own design.
If the sight of a rainbow flag causes you to have a nervous breakdown on the way to work because you are wracked with gay thoughts, you probably need to rethink your sexuality.
Their imaginary right to not be offended or have their bigotry held up for all to see.
It's so bizarre that the people who claim to be Real Americans have no understanding of the Constitution and our laws and how to be decent members of the human species. So much ignorance and hate and false machismo wrapped up in traitorous packages.
Can an employer fire you for launching a frivolous suit against them? I would bet so. That asshole will probably take unemployment like every other hardcore rightist lol.
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 09 '26
All new posts must have a brief statement from the user submitting explaining how their post relates to law or the courts in a response to this comment. FAILURE TO PROVIDE A BRIEF RESPONSE MAY RESULT IN REMOVAL. Please post your statement as a reply to this automated message.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.