Crossdressing Man Allowed on US Airways Flight

By Erin Sherbert Tue., Jun. 21 2011 at 4:35 PM

Categories: WTF?

Pin It

Is this G-rated enough for US Airways?

Last week, SF Weekly told readers about the University of New Mexico football player who was booted from a US Airways flight because he refused to pull up his sagging pants. At the time, US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder told reporters that Deshon Marman's overly saggy pants were perhaps in violation of the airline's dress code, which forbids indecent exposure or inappropriate dress attire.

As she put it, his pants were "below his buttocks, but above the knees, and his boxer shorts were showing."

Okay, fine. But of course, lawyers and ACLU-types have said the incident reeks of racism, and this latest piece of information only strengthens that argument. Believe it or not, a passenger on a recent US Airways flight gave the Chronicle a photo of an older white man wearing nearly nothing except for purple women's panties and a matching bra as he boarded a plane from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix on June 9.

But for some reason or another, Wunder says in this case US Airways employees did the right thing by not asking the man to cover up his bare skin, as they did with Marman.

"We don't have a dress code policy," Wunder told the Chronicle. "Obviously, if their private parts are exposed, that's not appropriate. So if they're not exposing their private parts, they're allowed to fly."

But wait: Marman wasn't showing his private parts -- at least not that we know of. His lawyers say surveillance video will prove that the 20-year-old San Francisco native's junk wasn't exposed. They say he was clearly targeted for dressing like a "thug."

Employees had asked Marman to pull up his pants so that his boxer shorts were not visible. When he refused, he was removed from the plane.

"It just shows the hypocrisy involved," Marman's lawyer, Joe O'Sullivan, told the Chronicle. "They let a drag queen board a flight and welcomed him with open arms. Employees didn't ask him to cover up. He didn't have to talk to the pilot. They didn't try to remove him from the plane -- and many people would find his attire repugnant."

Follow us on Twitter at @SFWeekly and @TheSnitchSF

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.