24 Nov 2000

***The Flight Attendant should* have been more polite, IMO. But Homosexuality/Sodomy is Illegal here in the state of FL (however square that may seem to some), though granted, it is hardly Ever enforced by the law. IMO, it was still a big lapse in judgement on the part of these guys behavior, gay/queer or not, IMO. If ones "gay" then okay, but don't expect total strangers to agree with what may/does feels 'normal' to them. That's just common sense. I'm sure that some people on the plane were just as "offended" by watching the 'kissing session' as were the culprits who behaved in a way that raised eyebrows in the first place, and then were ostracized for their private* affections towards each other. I say they deserved what they got for their blatant acting behavior, were probably drunk, and they should quit whining like stunned babies.

Slim

Man says airline bumped him for kissing boyfriend
Mexicana officials: 7 pals booted for boarding with wine

AT AIRPORT HOTEL: Robert Jorge, left, and Robert Norris, who were kicked off a Mexicana flight to CancÑn along with five other friends, say they believe that Jorge's kissing his partner offended airline personnel.

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SARA OLKON
solkon@herald.com

A Miami man says he was kicked off a Mexicana flight bound for Cancún Wednesday evening because he gave his partner a kiss and held his hand before take-off.

``This is a case of complete prejudice,'' said Robert Jorge, 28, in an interview at the Miami International Airport's hotel bar soon after the incident.

Jorge said he was humiliated and will sue the airline.

But Jenny Jenks, a spokeswoman for the airline, said Jorge's sexual orientation was never an issue.

She said the head pilot, Capt. Sciandra, returned the plane to the gate because Jorge and his six friends had come on board with an open bottle of wine.

``The captain made a decision not to take any chances,'' she said.

After the group got off the plane, Mexicana officials gave them hotel accommodations, meal vouchers and guaranteed Thanksgiving Day seats on Aeromexico. Both airlines are owned by the same company.

``Mexicana took a preventative action that at any point they could be, again could be, disruptive,'' she said.

Nonsense, said Robert Norris, one of the seven who got off the flight.

``If we were drunken fools getting off their plane, why would they be doing everything they can to compensate?'' he said.

According to Norris and Jorge, a flight attendant asked them to put away the wine they were carrying about 15 minutes before the plane left the gate. They say they complied.

They said the kiss between Jorge and his partner, who asked not to be identified, took place while the plane was taxiing onto the runway. It was immediately followed by a visit from a second, hostile flight attendant, Jorge and Norris said.

`UTTER RAGE'

``The rage in her eyes, it was utter rage,'' said Norris. ``I heard her say, `You can't hold hands,' and `You are disrupting passengers.' ''

Jenks declined to let The Herald interview Sciandra or the flight attendant, whom she identified only by the last name Mendez.

Meanwhile, the group -- many of whom had nothing to change into because they had checked their luggage -- spent the evening smoking cigarettes at MIA and calling friends and family with the news.

``We should have been there already,'' said Jorge, who works for an Internet company in Miami. ``But I think everything happens for a reason.''

Norris said he finally understood, albeit in a very small way, how it might have felt to be black in the 1950s.

``I've never had to experience this,'' he said.

ACTIVIST UPSET

But Jorge Mursuli, chairman of SAVE Dade, a gay-rights group, said he was not surprised to hear the men's account.

``There are some people that are uncomfortable that there are gay people living their lives with dignity. . . . I think they want us to live in the closet. They want us to feel badly about who we are.''

Mursuli, a former flight attendant, said he didn't believe a bottle of wine would be reason to stop a plane and kick passengers off.

``It's about a homophobe in a position of power. That's why discrimination laws need to be in place.''

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