Sep 29, 2006  |  By: RYAN LEE  | COMMENTS     

IT MAY BE OK TO ONCE AGAIN take some liquids and gels aboard airplanes, but gay travelers could still pose a little-known risk to homeland security: engaging in public displays of affection on transcontinental flights.

An American Airlines flight crew threatened to divert a Paris-to-New York flight on Aug. 22, after a gay couple, Stephan Varnier and George Tsikhiseli, began complaining about being asked to stop kissing each other.

“He would rest his head on my shoulder or the other way around,” Varnier told the New Yorker, which first reported the incident Sept. 25. “We’d kiss — not kiss kiss, just mwah.”

Varnier, who worked as a flight attendant for American from 2000 to 2004, told the Blade the experience was “humiliating and insulting.”

“I am quite familiar with what is considered inappropriate contact, so what we did was very casual,” Varnier said.

American Airlines officials declined to debate details about exactly what Varnier and Tsikhiseli were doing on the airplane, but said that several independent investigations into the incident absolved the flight crew of any wrongdoing.

“A careful review of the records indicates that the actions taken by the crew members were reasonable, non-discriminatory and struck the right balance in maintaining a safe, comfortable and respectful travel experience for all passengers onboard the aircraft,” American Airlines said in a prepared statement.

A FLIGHT ATTENDANT FIRST ASKED the gay couple to stop engaging in public displays of affection shortly after takeoff, Varnier said.

The men responded by complaining to a customer service crew member, who they said reportedly was “calm and professional” to the men until they suggested that they wouldn’t have been asked to stop if they were a man and a woman.

“She got defensive when the word ‘discrimination’ came up,” Varnier said,

The crew member returned to the couple’s seating area about a half hour later to inform them that other passengers had complained about their behavior earlier in the flight, and commotion erupted as the men began asking which of their fellow passengers complained.

Varnier said he and Tsikhiseli responded by asking for the flight attendant’s name and employee number, as well as to have an American Airlines official meet them upon landing.

“Everything was denied to us — it’s like we had no rights at all,” said Varnier.

Later in the flight, the gay men received another warning from the captain to cooperate with the flight crew or else the plane would be diverted, and they eventually received a letter from American saying they engaged in “heavy physical contact,” Varnier said.

AMERICAN AIRLINES, which bills itself as the world’s largest airline, disputed the gay couple’s story.

“We think the New Yorker piece was fairly one-sided,” Mary Sanderson, director of corporate communications for the company, told the Blade.

Independent of the company’s investigation into the incident, Sanderson noted that the airline’s gay and lesbian employee group, GLEAM, reviewed all of the crew and witness statements and records from the Aug. 22 flight and also determined that the actions taken were not discriminatory.

“Our assessment based on the accounts we have read is that the crewmembers acted reasonably,” the gay employee group said in a prepared statement.

The Human Rights Campaign also vouched for the American Airlines crew, and noted that the company has received a perfect score on its corporate equality index for the last five years.

 “Their review was fair and complete, and uncovered no bias in the crew’s response,” Daryl Herrschaft, director of HRC’s Workplace Project, said in a prepared statement.