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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1998)
no v ember 20 . fTTTTnTTÌTlnews F lying the G ay - friendly S kies ? Major U.S. carriers fly a fine line between courting queer consumers and alienating queer employees by Gip Plaster any gay and lesbian con American did, however, recently change its sumers believe that American policy regarding free flight benefits for the Airlines and United Airlines, partners of unmarried employees. It now allows two of the nations top three employees to designate a travel companion carriers, are gay-friendly. each year who can fly free at the same priority the employee. While both offer something for gay level and as lesbian Although this designated companion does employees and consumers, the companies could do a better job of being more inclusive. not get the myriad benefits spouses of married And what about Delta Air Lines? The com employees receive, the policy is a step forward. pany seems to be lagging even further behind, “We’re much closer to parity,” says Henri but shifts are beginning to occur at Delta, too. Simonetti, co-chair of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Delta is the nations third largest airline, and Transgendered Employees of AMR, an flying to about 150 cities in the United States officially recognized employee group at AMR Corp., American’s parent company. and about 40 cities in other countries. In 1996, the employees group made an offi While the company does include sexual orientation protection in its employment cial request to air nondiscrimination policy—which is displayed line officials for in bold type on the employment application— domestic partner but it does not offer domestic partner benefits, says benefits, spokeswoman Kay Homer. Simonetti says “Our benefits plans base eligibility on fami thus far the ly member status that can be documented request has nei ther been granted legally,” she says. Both United and American have some nor denied. form of flight benefits that apply to domestic “It’s some partners, but Delta does not. Employees do, thing that we are however, receive four “buddy passes" per year still hoping to that can be used by anyone the employee achieve,” he says. chooses, Homer points out. “It is my belief While Delta does contribute to AIDS walks that [domestic and to the Design Industry Foundation Fight partner benefits] ing AIDS, Homer says she does not know of are going to be any contributions the company has made to the wave of the future in Ameri- explicitly lesbian and gay organizations. She maintains, however, that none of this amounts to discrimination against gay and les Simonetti says that by offering the benefits, the company bian employees or consumers. “We do not discriminate. We offer great would be “recognizing and validating the fact that gay and lesbian employees exist.” service,” she says. American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Several months ago, a gay and lesbian Rader says, “It’s an idea we’ve had under study employees group called Pride of Delta formed in part to help make the airline’s policies more for sometime.” She also says American Airlines has con gay-friendly. Several weeks ago, the group pre sented a proposal to Delta officials outlining tributed to many gay and lesbian causes and some suggested changes. As of press time, the groups, including the Human Rights Cam paign and various AIDS organizations, as well company had not yet responded. Delta’s top competitors, meanwhile, have as Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians been more inclusive of gay men and lesbians, and Gays. It provides donated tickets and other services in addition to money. The com but they could be doing more. Fort Worth, Texas-based American is the pany does not release specific dollar amounts nation’s second largest air carrier, behind Unit of contributions, Rader says. American was also the first airline to ed. American serves about 160 destinations. launch a marketing campaign aimed at gay and As with the other major airlines, it does not lesbian consumers. offer domestic partner benefits. M GLASS ROOTS stained mosaic studio gloss A unique gtlicry specializing in stained doss mosaic stepping f stones and indoor/cnadoor tables Also shoH cistng loot artbti ta mixed mediums Bring hi this ad and SAVE $$ on a stepping stone at a table of your choke OPEN WED-SAT iTam-^pm 2*121 HE Atb«rio Po^o-d, OR (503) 460-3137 new wehtite unciere^yOruftioia wwwxitymr&uom /:xtx/gU**r<x>f > Com« sot wtat'j happen in on AiUrt* sheet? j United Airlines, meanwhile, is the top air carrier in the world, flying to about 140 desti nations around the globe. UAL Corporation, the holding company for the airline, also oper ates United Express and Shuttle by United. In 1992, United adopted a nondiscrimina tion policy that includes sexual orientation. The policy was adopted a few months before American’s. United also offers flight benefits to employees’ chosen companions. Its failure to offer other domestic partner benefits is not discrimination, says United spokesman Andy Plews. “We don’t offer them to anyone,” he says, referring to the fact that the partners of unmarried heterosexual employees do not receive any benefits either. “For a company of 92,000 people, any change to our agreed benefits is going to [cre ate]... major upheaval for everybody,” he adds. The city of San Francisco passed an ordi nance requiring companies that do business with the city, whether they are based there or not, to offer domestic partner benefits to their personnel who are employed there. Earlier this year, however, a federal court ruled that airlines doing business with the city do not have to offer the same benefits to unmarried employees that they offer to mar ried employees. The Air Transport Association, an organi zation that represents the airline industry, Proudly Serving Our Attorneys at Law brought the suit, but it was United and Fed eral Express that raised the dispute. Plews says United, which has a 25-year, multimillion dollar contract with the city of San Francisco, is resisting the local ordinance because the city has no authority over the air line. “We have been resisting that really on a point of principle. We cannot have policies dictated by local authorities. We have always contended that airlines should be federally governed,” Plews says. “We are fighting this battle in San Francisco over a jurisdictional issue.” Recently, the company filed an injunction against the city attempting to keep it from enforcing its domestic partner ordinance. On Oct. 7, Judge Claudia Wilkens issued a ruling in favor of the airline. The ruling allows the company to continue to operate in San Francisco even though it does not comply with the law. Plews says United is heavily involved in the suit in San Francisco because the company has a strong presence there. He also defends the company, saying it has sponsored 90 gay and lesbian groups and events. (He declined to put a dollar figure on the support.) United has an affinity group for gay and les bian employees called United with Pride, which submitted a proposal to the company’s leadership a few months ago requesting the air line begin offering domestic partner benefits. As this issue went to press, the group had still not received a response. “My opinion is that they aren’t quite sure what to answer. They probably realize they are walking a tightrope with this situation—both with their employees and with their cus tomers—and they don’t want to foul up,” says Nick Morse, United with Pride’s executive director. Asked to rate United on a gay-friendliness scale from “not at all” to “very accepting,” Morse places United at “slightly” accepting. Both American and United have been crit icized by right-wing religious groups who say the companies are too gay-friendly. Earlier this year, a three-page letter mailed to the chairman of United’s parent company criticized the airline for lending “legitimacy to homosexual behavior, which is immoral, unhealthy and destructive to individuals, fam ilies and communities.” It was signed by representatives of several groups including Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, Southern Baptist Conven tion and the Christian Coalition. 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