Cross dressing flyer (Photo: Jill Tarlow)
THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — Airlines don’t have a clear and specific dress code for passengers — the general rule of the thumb airlines use to deny boarding to passengers for supposed dress code violation is ‘they’ll know it when they see it.”
This code has prevented the boarding of passengers wearing or showing, among numerous other things, excessive cleavage, expletive T-shirts, and yes, saggy pants. However, the code did not prevent a crossdressing person wearing women’s underwear from boarding one flight last June.
This lead to a ruckus by a lawyer defending an African-American passenger who was arrested after refusing to pull up his saggy pants on board the aircraft. The lawyer, Joseph O’Sullivan, has stated: “You can’t let someone repugnant like that (the cross-dresser from the June flight) on the plane and single out this kid (his client) because he’s black . . .”
Repugnant? The lawyer is clearly making an emotional appeal by casting CD people, and by association under the transgender umbrella, all trans people, in a stereotypic and negative manner. This statement alone invalidates the lawyer’s entire argument. As for pulling out the racial card, he may have a case for racial discrimination if he can show that white saggy pants wearers were knowingly allowed to fly on the same airline with the same pilot, but until he disassociate the case from transgender people, he’s back at square one as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve no solution for airlines to help make their dress codes more fair for passengers, but I will suggest that airlines state that they are not ever in the business of determining if gender-correct clothing are worn. This alone will put most trans people at ease.
Agree or disagree, feel free to comment.
(Story idea credit: Anita Oneida)
More on the crossdresser: http://blog.sfgate.com/crime/2011/06/21/man-flies-us-airways-in-womens-underwear-photo/
More on airline dress codes: Airlines: You can’t wear that | oregonlive.com.
Saggy pants
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Filed under: Discrimination, Equality, Civil Rights, Judicial, Courts, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans, airline, cross dress, dress code, Joseph O'Sullivan, passenger, us airways, women's underwear
This is a tricky one…..BUT there have been several cases where someone was where the dress of females has been called into question, where the shirts with certain 4-letter or other words on them have caused someone to be delayed while they attempted to cover the item in question.
Now as mean as this may sound while there is no set in stone dress code for flying, it is the crew that does make the call as to who they will allow on board, all other items in that not being discriminatory.Also if the outfit of the crossdresser on thf flight was as in the pic….in a sense, the ejected passenger may have a valid point. There may have been those on the flight who may..[and I stress MAY] have had an objection. And if we were to go with the example set by SWA with regard to questionable clothing, then both should have been requested off said plane. That was a favoritism issue would not arise in this.
[As for the race issue with this...perhaps we should think of something here: considering the rather poor track record the US and some businesses have with regard to race and gender issues, as myopic as the lawyer's words may be...he does have a point. Again, going on the track record, not trying to start and argument]
I don’t need to know or see someone else’s underwear and they don’t need to see mine. The only exception I can come up with is a medical emergency where clothes obsure or prevent treatment. As far as crossdressing goes, I’m embarrased to hand over my creditcard after being in a store and called sir the whole time because that card has the name my parents decided was appropriate, not one that is correct. As long as all the bits and peices are covered appropriate to the cultures at both ends of the flight, who cares!
If the dude was dressed like the CD u posted I would of said the same. Im an m2f trans and I take myself seriously. My opinion (we all got one) is this person doesnt. Worse, it stimatizes those who us who try to.
Two entirely separate issues here.
One: the airline’s unspecified dress code.
Two: the man’s use of the a trans passenger as object for opprobium.
Saggy pants are also an expression of ID…the belonging to a culture…so yes civil rights are affected.
Underwear…well, we all make our choices, but showing underwear has been fashion for a very long time, not just baggy pants, but see through tops, VPL, bra straps deliberately put on show…it is just clothing, for goodness sake. Underneath we are all naked, just like nature intended. We do get hung up on clothes, don’t we?
It is one thing not to like another’s choice of clothes, but it is something else again to discriminate against them for it.