Delta customer claims airline employee defaced her rainbow luggage tag with anti-gay slur
ATLANTA - A Delta passenger is claiming an employee with the airline defaced her rainbow luggage tag with an anti-LGBTQ+ slur.
Renee Gerrish, of Atlanta, Ga., shared the alleged incident on Twitter.
“Someone at Delta Air Lines baggage handling took it upon themselves to write ‘sodomite’ on my [rainbow] luggage tag. Bigotry, hate speech and destruction of personal property while in @Delta airline’s care. I want this shared and on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community- I will not go quietly,” the Sept. 12 post read, along with a photo of the luggage tag with the word written in black marker.
Gerrish, who identifies as straight, said she discovered the defaced tag when she landed at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport from Boston.
In an interview with LGBTQ Nation, Gerrish said she reached out to Delta over the incident.
“As a hetero woman, I can only know my hurt, anger, and disappointment… PALE in comparison to what the LGBTQ+ community experiences on a daily basis,” Gerrish wrote in an email sent to the airline’s customer support, she told the publication.
Though initially frustrated by not getting an immediate response, Gerrish updated her Twitter on Wednesday to explain Delta had finally responded to her — and that the customer service representative was “incredibly vocal about the disgust and disappointment in the situation as well as her office mates who were appalled.”
Gerrish said Delta apologized and said they are fully investigating the situation.
Delta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
In her tweet, Gerrish wrote that she is following up with TSA about the matter and may file a police report.