From Tom Parsons - Hollywood Star Kicked Off Southwest Airlines For Kissing Girlfriend
Sep-28-2011

A lesbian actress who starred in "The L-Word" said she kissed her girlfriend - and got escorted off of a Southwest Airlines flight on Monday for doing so.
Leisha Hailey took to Twitter to call for a boycott of the carrier after a flight attendant told them other passengers had complained after witnessing the affection.
Her first tweet said: "I have been discriminated against." She later added, "Since when is showing affection to someone you love illegal?"
Hailey was referring to kissing her girlfriend of five years, Free City clothing designer Nina Garduno, were told that Southwest is "a 'family' airline and kissing was not OK.
Southwest Airlines Co. responded on its website that Hailey was approached "based solely on behavior and not gender." The airline's four-sentence response said passengers were characterizing the behavior as excessive. Southwest Airlines claims it only kicked a lesbian "L-Word" actress off a flight today after multiple passengers complained about her "excessive" affectionate behavior with another woman.
A discussion followed on the flight, and the airline said it "escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground."
The actress and her unidentified girlfriend were on a flight from Baltimore to St. Louis. The kissing occurred in the air, and a discussion followed when the plane landed.
Hailey said the encounter between the couple, and a flight attendant was recorded.
Earlier this month, the Dallas-based airline kicked off Green Day's lead man Billie Joe Armstrong for wearing his pants too low. The Grammy winner was escorted off a plane after failing to follow a flight attendant's directive to pull the pants up.
Southwest also removed director Kevin Smith from a flight last year because he didn't fit properly in a single seat. His first tweet read, "Dear SouthwestAir I know I'm fat, but was the captain really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?"
Southwest also removed a woman last year that began sobbing over her father's heart attack. In 2007, Hooters waitress, Kyla Ebbert, was kicked off a Southwest plane for her outfit not being to the liking of a flight attendant, and was told it was too skimpy. Ebbert was humiliated in front of the entire aircraft and was told she would have to deplane because again, Southwest was a family airline.
Southwest has kicked off several Pakistani customers for unwarranted reasons. One Muslim college student said, "I've got to go" in her native tongue when it was time to turn off all electronic equipment, and the flight attendant freaked out, and she was kicked off and detained.
We also found many previous stores about overweight unaccompanied minors being kicked off and left stranded without adult supervision or money to get back home. The more we Googled the more similar stories we found.
Southwest's website says it is the official airline of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. We guess Southwest Corporate, and the Southwest ground crew need to get their stories straight and have a united front.

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Posted by Ken at 6:49 PM - Link to this entry  |  Share this entry  |  Print