chilling story about two affectionate men on an airplane, who are confronted by a homophobic flight attendant.
evidently she took exception to their “behavior”, and when deservedly challenged by the pair, escalated the episode to terrorist-level to cover her ass, complete with a pilot’s threat to divert the flight.
one man had rested his head on his partner’s shoulder. and had blown him an air kiss.
shocking.
and of course, if you are in that situation, there’s nothing you can say or do. if the personnel on the plane say that you are a threat, even if they are incorrect and doing so only to legally protect themselves, then you truly have no recourse. who’s going to believe you when you protest that you were only air-kissing?
on planes, i’ve seen straight people fucking in their seats under a blanket. in tiny adjoining coach seats, no less. i’ve seen straight people go into the bathroom together and reemerge flushed a few minutes later.
i don’t condone that. i’m not much for pda. but you just know that if two straight people air-kissed, or even really kissed, or even tongued each other for a while, nothing would have been said. and i saw flight attendants actively ignoring the aforementioned fornicators.
this is the danger we face when we allow our freedoms to erode as we have over the past few years. this is exactly what’s wrong with the patriot act, and the like. rules that skirt the edge of what’s legal and appropriate and sensible may just barely pass muster if applied correctly.
but those same rules, if applied capriciously, ensure that people will be falsely accused, and maliciously prosecuted, and inappropriately sentenced.
and you can’t ever count on the rules being uniformly applied by always-reasonable people. some people will always use the rules to further their agenda, or to introduce their prejudices.
and this happened on american airlines, my carrier of choice, who has an excellent record when it comes to these issues.
i’ll have to see how this turns out.
