Pic: Twitter The man whose suitcase was emblazoned with stickers reading “I Am Gay” while in transit has blogged about the incident, “for a few minutes I got to walk in the shoes of a gay person in a public place” and that he was degraded, shamed and humiliated. The defacement of the man’s luggage while he was on a Jetstar flight from Perth has been reported across the globe, but he has chosen to blog about his thoughts rather than speak to media directly. He recalls: “My suitcase was the first bag on the carousel. The entire flight's passengers were shoulder-to-shoulder looking for their bags and I'm pretty sure that most people would've seen mine rattling along the rollers.” At first he thought it wasn’t his, due to there being white on the red, but then realised what had happened. “I plucked the suitcase off the carousel and had many eyes look me up and down. I was taken aback by the slogan but thought I had thick enough skin to ignore the leering. “My connecting flight was about to board so I had to speed through the terminal to check in with Qantas. As I dragged the case through the terminal, I looked back at the people I had passed and they too looked at me differently. My luggage was a scarlet letter. “I am a white heterosexual male. This trifecta of privilege means that I'm not routinely subjected to prejudice. But for a few minutes I got to walk in the shoes of a gay person in a public place. For no good reason I had had a slur marked over my luggage. I was degraded. I was shamed. I was humiliated. You can read the full blog here Meanwhile Jetstar has been in contact and offered what he says is a very sincere apology. “For which I am grateful.” He says they are also conducting a "serious" investigation which he is assisting with.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 15th October 2013 - 8:25am