Former L-Word star escorted off US jet
Former L Word actress Leisha Hailey has hit out at US airlines Southwest after being escorted from a jet for kissing her girlfriend.
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Former L Word actress Leisha Hailey has hit out at US airlines Southwest after she and her girlfriend, fashion designer Nina Garduno, were escorted from a jet for kissing.
Hailey, who played bisexual journalist ‘Alice’ on the Showtime series from 2004- 2009, tweeted her fury.
“We were escorted off the plane for getting upset about the issue,” she wrote.
“So we’ve joined the ranks alongside @BJAofficial and @ThatKevinSmith for being kicked off an @SouthwestAir flight, this time for being gay.”
Those remarks referred to filmmaker Kevin Smith, escorted off a Southwest jet in February 2010, supposedly for being too large for a single seat and Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong who was refused a flight earlier this month for wearing pants deemed to be too saggy.
“We didn’t know intolerance and discrimination for slouchy pants, being overweight or being gay was part of your family values,” Hailey continued.
But in a statement a Southwest Airlines says the crew made the decision to escort the couple off the plane after the discussion escalated. Southwest said that its crew had “approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender” after receiving “several passenger complaints characterising the behavior as excessive.”
Southwest is the official airline of GLAAD.
UPDATE: Hailey and Grey state: “We were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one, modest kiss.”
Southwest says; “Additional reports from our employees and customers onboard flight 2274 during a stop in El Paso on Sunday now confirm profane language was being used loudly by two passengers. At least one family who was offended by the loud profanity moved to another area of the cabin.”
Hailey and Grey say they are filing a formal complaint with the airline in the hope that “when all is said and done a greater tolerance without prejudice will evolve.”
Source: LA Times
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16 Responses
If ppl were complaing it was ‘excessive’ then perhaps it was a bit OTT. But the question remains would the same have happened if it were a straight couple.
@NeonKitten. I don’t have a problem with a few pecks. But I’d wager for people to complain and staff to ask that they stop that it was more than that.
Maybe they were vigorously tasting each other’s tonsils. Should have popped into the toilet for a quickie instead.
@Regan
It is all in the name, southwest, the airline is based out of Texas, they don’t take kindly to folks who don’t share their values of bibles, bullets and booze. Yes that is being stereopypical, but I have met quite a few (don’t insult George Bush, they really do dont like that) and it is much easier talking to New Yorkers (not anywhere as rude as many would believe).
With out knowing more IMO it depends how far the kiss goes, regardless of sexual preference, but where they warned first?
Wow, I thought this article might be about somebody famous.
Why is it that every time you hear about an airline kicking people off their planes for some ridiculous reason it always turns out to be Southwest? There was even a Dr.Phil episode about it.a few years back when a mother and daughter were kicked off the plane because the daughter was wearing a miniskirt.
The difference is, that its not those things. I have flow quite a few US domestic flights, and on almost every one there is someone being loud, obnoxious, rude to flight attendants, parents yelling at their children to behave, not to pention the obligitory douchebag trying to jam his giant suitcase in the overheads. So what is wrong with a little affection? Im sure it is because it was a same sex couple, middle america is very intolerent of gay couple in public. If it was a young straight couple honeymooning, then they could make out on the pilot’s lap and still get their free champagne.
They were removed after the arguement escalated not because of the kissing.
As for the complaints about kissing, imagine this. Would you like it if I was sitting next to you in the plane and spent the entire flight: kicking your seat, farting, belching, hocking up phlegm, singing loudly out of tune, cutting my toenails, picking my ears or scratching my genetalia? Of course not, you’d complain.
All you want to do when you get on a flight is get on the flight and get off.
There is a time and a place for getting hot and heavy and that place isn’t the restricted personal confines of a plane seat..
@ Neon Kitten…..I guess there is line between a couple of quick pecks before take off…or ‘getting it on’. If a few passengers have complained, then it would suggest these two were doing the latter. There is a time and place for this
Ah yes the Political Incorrectness policeman strikes again. Its amazing isnt it with all of the wrong things going on in the US this is more important wow. If she has alot of facebook friends or Twitter followers then she can say to them to never fly with that airline ever again, that would make the airline think twice.
It’s a confined space and… what? How does it affect you? Why are people so offended by displays of affection?
@ Ell… yeah I agree, and if they were getting a little carried away they should be booted off the flight…jeez its fairly cramped on most flights.
It is also a very tenuous link to a ‘tv news’ story and to be honest it is hardly newsworthy in any context. It doesn’t even warrant a mention as a G & L issue, it is more of a behavourial/conduct problem by those involved. The phrase ‘get a hotel room when you land’ comes to mind.
Did one of the airlines here a few years ago escort someone off for a tattoo?
It’s inappropriate for anyone to kiss on a flight. It’s a confined space. Keep yourselves under control for a few hours.
i think the passenger need to get over themselves. so what if they kissed