A U.S. Air Force sergeant is fighting for his right to express his Christian faith by flying a flag in his front yard after he was forced to take it down.
First Liberty Institute, a faith-based non-profit legal group, has sent a demand letter on behalf of Air Force Technical Sergeant Robert Durrant, who was ordered by an employee at a military base to take down his "Jesus is my King, Trump is my President" flag from his residence.
According to the letter, Durrant and his family moved into their residence on Malmstrom Air Force Base in 2023. Shortly after moving in, he noticed his neighbors displayed a wide variety of flags outside their homes. Some flags represented college and professional sports teams, a state, foreign nations, seasons of the year, support for law enforcement, and "straight ally" LGBTQ pride.
Durrant first decided to hang "a hybrid US-Israel flag." While that flag was on display, he never received any notice of lease violation from Balfour Beatty, the housing management group on the base.
Then, in the middle of last year, Durrant removed that flag and replaced it with a flag displaying the words, "Jesus is my King, Trump is my President."
In September, a Balfour Beatty employee contacted Durrant by phone, ordering him to remove his "Jesus is my King" flag from his property, stating that it violated "all sorts of policies," First Liberty outlines.
"As a Christian, TSgt Durrant feels compelled by his religious beliefs to display this flag in recognition of a duty to publicly acknowledge Christ's divine lordship, and as an expression of loyalty to the commander in chief, so he did not want to remove it and asked for the policy or policies in writing," the demand letter explains.
Durrant also received an email from the housing management alleging a violation of his lease and a second request to remove the flag. In the email, he was told he had 48 hours to comply with the request.
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"Balfour's employee also furnished this demand to TSgt Durrant's military chain of command. His military leadership subsequently met with him and ordered him to comply with (the) demand or risk military discipline. On Monday, September 15, TSgt Durrant removed his Jesus is my King flag so as to not risk eviction or military discipline," Liberty Counsel explains.
Durrant later emailed Balfour employee Tanner Haines to request permission to fly his flag, explaining the religious basis for his request. A civilian employee in the military housing office, Kendra Charron, responded to him and told him he needed to make that request through his military chain of command, as he allegedly violated a "DoD policy...not a Housing or Malmstrom AFB policy."
According to Liberty Counsel, that information contradicted what Durrant was originally told. Additionally, at the time he was informed of the violation, other base residents displayed flags representing sports teams, seasonal decorations, and even pride flags without such objection.
Durrant is now asking to be able to fly his flag and says the order to remove it was a violation of his First Amendment, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and Fair Housing Act rights.
"Permitting the display of LGBT and other flags for years while subsequently ordering the swift removal of a religious flag is blatant anti-Christian bias targeting religious exercise," said Chris Motz, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute. "The First Amendment protects TSgt Durrant's right to freely express his faith without fear of reprimand or repercussion, including on an Air Force base."
First Liberty is asking the housing group to "rescind" their letter demanding Durrant remove his religious flag and "confirm" that he was not in violation of his lease for flying a religious flag.
First Liberty noted that Balfour Beatty has until January 19th to respond to the letter or potentially face legal action.
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