I haven’t flown Southwest Airlines in over 10 years, since most of my flights are international, not domestic. The one time I did fly with them they seriously bugged me. I hated the free for all seating arrangements, I didn’t like the joking informal flight attendants because it seemed unprofessional, and I remember complaining to a friend about it at the time. Flying sucks in general though, and while I doubt that other airlines are much better it does seem that people have more problems with Southwest. We just heard that the dude from Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong, got kicked off a Southwest Flight for not pulling his saggy pants up. And Southwest is the airline that booted director Kevin Smith from a flight that was overbooked, and then tried to make it sound like he was too fat to fly when that wasn’t the case.

So now we’re hearing that Leisha Hailey, who starred on The L Word, got kicked off a Southwest flight for kissing her girlfriend. Hailey tweeted that she got booted off the plane for being gay and is calling for a boycott of Southwest. Meanwhile Southwest issued a statement that she was showing “excessive” PDA and that other passengers were complaining.

The L Word actress Leisha Hailey says she was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after kissing her girlfriend.

In a series of tweets Monday, Hailey wrote that she and fashion designer Nina Garduno, who have been together since 2006, “were escorted off the plane for getting upset about the issue.”

“I have been discriminated against by @SouthwestAir,” she tweeted. “Flt. attendant said that it was a ‘family’ airline and kissing was not ok.”

“This is an outrage,” she added. “I demand a public apology by @SouthwestAir and a refund. Hate is not a family value. I will never fly this airline.”

She continued: “We were escorted off the plane for getting upset about the issue. @SouthwestAir endorses homophobic employees. No one made her accountable.”

The Uh Huh Her twitter feed — of which Hailey, also a musician, is a member — also posted a series of tweets about the incident. One noted that the couple “joined the ranks” of Kevin Smith and Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, both of whom were previously kicked off SWA flights. In February 2010, Smith claimed he was kicked off for being too large to fit in a single seat, while Armstrong earlier this month tweeted that he was escorted off the aircraft for wearing sagging pants.

“We didn’t know intolerance and discrimination for slouchy pants, being overweight or being gay was part of your family values,” an Uh Huh Her tweet read.

Meanwhile, a SWA rep did reach out to Hailey via Uh Huh Her’s Twitter account.

“I’m so sorry!” read a tweet from SWA’s account. “Can you please follow/DM [direct message] me more details so we can get to the bottom of this? Thanks!”

SWA later tweeted this statement, which did not mention Hailey by name: “Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive. Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender. The conversation escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground, as opposed to in flight. We regret any circumstance where a passenger does not have a positive experience on Southwest and we are ready to work directly with the passengers involved to offer our heartfelt apologies for falling short of their expectations.”

[From Hollywood Reporter]

It’s hard to tell exactly what happened. The airline would have us believe that Hailey and her girlfriend were making out and that everyone complained about it. The airline’s statement insinuates that the couple got worked up about being asked to stop and were arguing with the crew about it, so they got escorted off the flight. Hailey’s version is that she was just kissing her girlfriend, that a homophobic stewardess targeted them, and that they were treated unfairly. After reading Hailey’s tweets about it in order, she makes a strong case. The part that convinced me is that the stewardess said they were a “family” airline. Who knows what they were doing and how they reacted though. They could have been making out heavily for all we know. Just to reiterate, I hate flying.

Oh and Hailey tweeted a link to this page where Southwest tries to establish that they’re fabulous and gay friendly. This is their actual header graphic.