Mother of Nonbinary Adult Accuses Delta of Discrimination
According to the Los Angeles Blade, the mother of a nonbinary adult is accusing Delta Air Lines of discriminating against gender-nonconforming individuals after she was unable to buy a ticket for her child without inaccurately marking their gender as “male” or “female.”
The mother, Aurora Dawn, tweeted “@Delta is discriminating against #nonbinary individuals and not allowing them to fly despite legal ID issued by states that allow X on birth certificates and state-issued IDs.”
Dawn voiced her frustration with Delta for not having a gender-neutral option when booking in the now-viral Twitter thread.
On Twitter, the concerned mother said she discovered the issue when she was trying to make a reservation to buy a ticket as a Christmas present for her “nonbinary adult child” and the only gender options on the Delta and Alaska Air websites were “male” or “female”.
Dawn called Delta and connected with a representative who “was really trying to help,” but could not change the gender marker to “X.”
After waiting over 30 minutes on hold, Dawn said she was told to use the gender marker on the birth certificate. But the birth certificate also had an “X” designation, she said. Of course, Dawn was concerned because the marker on her child’s I.D. wouldn’t match the gender on their ticket.
After a heated exchange with a Delta supervisor, she hung up the phone with the issue still unresolved.
In a statement to the Blade, a Delta spokesperson said the company is a “proud, long-time supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Delta, along with other airlines in 2019, planned to add a gender-neutral ticketing option, but the global pandemic has delayed those plans. In the same Delta statement, they claim to be “back on track” to be able to offer a nonbinary option in 2022.
According to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), 21 U.S. states and the District of Columbia allow individuals to identify as a gender option other than “male” or “female.”
Source: The Los Angeles Blade
