A Texas mother is claiming that she, her 16-month-old son, and her mother, were kicked off a United plane after she accidentally misgendered one of the flight attendants. Jenna Longoria, who is a women’s health and hormone expert from the Austin area, recalls boarding her flight home at San Francisco International Airport around 9 a.m. She said she made a mistake and addressed the flight attendant by the wrong pronoun more than once. "When [the flight attendant], who identifies as a woman, gave me our boarding passes, I said, 'Thank you, sir.' That is it. That is it," Jenna explained.
"She got upset. I walked to the plane to go down the aisle," she continued. "Then she held my mother back and wouldn’t let her come with me [past the gate]," she said. Upon getting aboard the plane, Jenna asked another crew member, who was a male, for assistance.
She continued referring to the flight attendant as a "he" while explaining that her mom, who was helping Jenna with her son, was being held at the gate. "He said, 'He?' and I said, 'Yeah.' He then said, 'She’s wearing a dress,'" the mom recalled.
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"My son is in my hand crying, I’m trying to get on the plane," she went on. "As a mother, my prerogative is to get my son safely on the plane and not what the pronouns that someone goes by." She also admitted that she's "not very versed with pronouns."
Jenna, her son, and her mom were eventually banned from the flight, which still took off with their luggage, and even their medication. United said in a statement after the incident that the mother and her family were denied from boarding "following a discussion about having too many carry-on items," which she says is "an absolute lie."
In a video posted to her Instagram, a conversation between Jenna and a United official, whom she identified as Gabriella, is heard. Gabriella told the mom that she had to get statements from witnesses to "fact find" but confirmed it was the captain’s call to have her barred from the flight, adding that it was "the end of the story." As Jenna demanded for more answers, Gabriella explained that the mom was being kicked off "for what came out of your mouth."
"I need you to know that because of this verbal altercation that you had with my staff, you got yourself put off this craft. And it was confirmed by the captain. They heard it all," Jenna was told. "I don’t wanna put words in their mouths because I still need statements, but some transgender comments were made, derogatory comments about being a bigot not being on the aircraft. This is what I heard."
Jenna says Gabriella told them they would likely be banned from flying on any United flight because of the incident. The mother believes that if the captain was actually present to witness what happened, they wouldn't have been kicked off the flight.
"The woman who explained it to her said that she had 'committed a hate crime,'" one person commented on the ordeal. "Show me the law."
"Pronoun enforcement should be illegal, period," another person said. "It offers too many opportunities for discrimination and should not be taken seriously by s court. This is worthy of protest."
