Leisha Hailey, an actress most recently seen on CSI but best known for her role on Showtime's The L Word, was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight today and immediately took to twitter to complain that she and her girlfriend got the boot because of their sexual orientation. Hailey says a flight attendant asked her and her partner to leave because they were kissing and, according to the stewardess, southwest is a "family" airline."They don't like us," the actress Tweeted of the company's alleged "homophobic" policies.But Southwest has now replied and says its employees simply responded to passenger complains about the actress' "excessive" affection toward her girlfriend."Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender," the statement reads. "The conversation escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground, as opposed to in flight.We are ready to work directly with the passengers involved to offer our heartfelt apologies for falling short of their expectation."Hailey should just be grateful she wasn't wearing baggy pants, too.
If they were kicked off because they were gay and were holding hands or shared a kiss or two that is freaking stupid and wrong. I have no problem with PDAs from couples gay or straight unless the PDA turns into something like dry-humping and foreplay. If the airline has ever done the same thing to a straight couple for the same reason then I think it would be ok. But I am willing to bet they never have and would not. Some people are uncomfortable around gay couples or people but that does not mean it is ok to tell a gay couple they must get off a plane. Unless they were doing something that would cause the flight attendant to ask a similar straight couple to leave, it was wrong. Just because some people do not think gay couples should be seen at all or it makes some people uneasy is not reason to kick them off a plane. The standard of behavior needs to be exactly the same for straight or gay couples. If it is not then the actions of the airline are wrong.
