It's officially the holiday season, and I'm sure millions of us traveled across the country to not only stuff ourselves with turkey but also share a thankful and loving moment with our families and friends. My partner and I got our turkey stuffing in my home state of Mississippi, but we had to fly out of Memphis because Tupelo's airport is a tad small. I've got to say, the small propeller planes terrify me.
Upon traveling back to L.A., my partner and I accidentally looked like the Wonder Twins with our matching University of Southern California hoodies. Normally, we'd run from being "Clothing Twinkies," but when it's freezing cold outside, all fashion ideologies are out the window. While waiting at the Memphis airport, an older lady decided to spark up a friendly Southern-esque conversation with us, letting us know she was from Inglewood and was looking forward to going back home. With the flight about to board, she asked for a favor: watch her bags while she went to the restroom. I have to say, I'm a stickler for the airport rules of not watching strangers' bags. My Los Angeles instincts said, "Uh, I don't know," but my Mississippi instincts and Thanksgiving mood boldly won and said, "Yes, ma'am." When she got back she was extremely grateful to both of us for watching her bags, but she suddenly decided she had to go to Starbucks and asked us to watch her bags again. Needless to say, we did her another favor. However, something was different this time. When she was returning with her Starbucks cup, she saw my partner affectionately kiss me on my forehead. This time, my partner and I didn't get a "thank you" from her; we didn't even get any eye contact aside from her previous stare at our loving yet tame affection. Sure, it stung a bit, but my partner and I decided not to make a federal case out of it. We hoped she would reflect back on her actions and realize that these lesbians did her a favor many people wouldn't have.
Finally, we boarded the plane, where the flight attendant greeted us with a great smile and a welcome. We took out seats and prepared ourselves for a long-awaited nap. We started holding hands and joked about which of us was going to be asleep first; I put money on myself. In the midst of our joking moment, we suddenly heard, "What's all this?" We turned and saw the flight attendant standing over us, glaring down at our clasped hands. We immediately asked what she was talking about, and she pointed directly at our hand-holding and said, "That. What's that all about?" My partner and I were so in shock that the flight attendant was actually pointing this out that we didn't know what to say first. Should we go off on her? Should we educate her? Should we ignore her ignorance? Should we report this? We simply didn't know what to do first. I suppose our faces looked like we were going to give her an unpleasant piece of our minds, so her serious expression quickly switched to a forced smile. "I'm just kidding," she nervously uttered as she moved with haste down the aisle. Good thing we made sure our seatbelts were fastened and our electronics were stowed, because she didn't bother to look.
I immediately thought about Leisha Hailey, who starred in The L Word, and her unfortunate ordeal of being kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for kissing her girlfriend on the plane. Leisha Hailey unleashed a flurry of tweets to her thousands of followers, claiming a flight attendant booted her and her girlfriend for kissing on the plane -- because Southwest is a "family" airline.
I must say, we were not on a Southwest flight, but does it really matter which airline carrier we used? I've flown all over this country and internationally, and I've seen straight couples give affectionate pecks, downright swap spit, hold hands, grope each other, and possibly join the Mile-High Club (being a plus-sized woman, this won't be happening for me) without a flight attendant saying a word. I've even seen couples loudly cursing at each other and hitting one another without a flight attendant blinking an eye. I wanted to intervene once but didn't want to get punched by the female in the relationship; from her quick jabs, she must've taken a few boxing lessons from Manny Pacquiao.
Not every flight attendant is the same, and I must say that the majority do an excellent and professional job. It's a shame that a few tarnish the perception of a majority. So, to those flight attendants who do a great job, please continue, because I am very appreciative of the assistance you provide. But for the few who choose to bring their personal ideologies on the plane and unjustly thrust them upon passengers who paid their hard-earned money to sit in a tiny seat with limited legroom, please stop it. Be more concerned about me using my cell phone once the main cabin door has closed than me innocently holding hands with another woman. After all, which one has the potential to cause more damage? Using a cell phone 34,000 feet in the air or a little lesbian hand-holding during a season that's supposed to be about love, kindness, and giving?
Emma Ruby-Sachs: Southwest's Big Gay Blunder
Mariah Hanson: Gay Up and Fly Right
Irene Monroe: Flying While Gay
Or, have never walked down a park in Paris or Vienna where women walk along, arm in arm, talking all the while.
Oh, Americans, you are so narrow minded!
Both in their 80s. However, I'd have loved to have taken the FA to the hospital had she attempted her silliness with those ladies. They'd not have taken lightly to it and both were in extreme states.
So, is holding hands a flight risk? a challenge to the safety of the airplane? some form of a new terrorist plot? a challenge to the ethical stability of the flight?
Flight attendants remain on the job primarily to protect safety in the event of a challenge, the other 99% of the time, they are essentially focused on delivering drinks and picking up debris. Challenging, tiring and crazy job. NONE of that has anything to do with being a hall monitor for basic PDA's... for heaven sakes, I remember in the '70's, joining the Mile High Club was an essential rite of passage for jet setting passengers who were hetero...
By now, air travel has become tiresome, time consuming and generally appalling, as we all get crowded into tiny seats, forced into accepting delayed starts and landings as standard... but there is no reason to ad homophobia to the plate.
and, as with many posters, I am sure that had it been two guys, this phobic attendant would have gone off like a rocket.
After all, open mindedness is a threat to most Americans.
My husband flies all the time for work and more and more I'm hearing comments from him about rude and unhelpful flight attendants. The common thread is that most of them are older, though I'm not sure why that would account for such horrid manners.
LGBT equality!! (without discrimination)
Not a problem. As we were moving to the exit row, a lower level FA approached and asked what we were doing. I explained that I was very tall and the head FA had said it was OK. He acted like it was a lie. Moments later he came back and said, "since you are already in the seats we will allow it this time."
The rest of the story is that all the players in the story are Gay. Guess bad manners isn't just a straight affliction.