“Sorry For Your Inconvenience”
Waymon Hudson Fights A Intercom Message of Gay Hate At A Major Airport, And What He’s Doing To Make A Difference
by Bambi Weavil
Early in the morning of May 1st, around 1 am, Waymon Hudson and his partner were returning home to Fort Lauderdale from Chicago. Their flight was delayed, so they were the last group of passengers in Terminal 3 at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. While waiting for their bags in the baggage claim area, Hudson noticed a mumble come across the PA system. Waymon then listened carefully and heard these words came over loud and clear, “A man that lies with a man as with a woman is subject to death.”
Hudson turned to my partner and asked if he had heard the announcement and replied, “I heard something about death, but I’m not sure.” A few minutes later, the same recording played again over the loud speaker. They were understandably shocked and frightened. They looked around for a security guard, airport employee, or even a courtesy phone to get help, but since it was so late they were unable to find anyone. They quickly gathered our bags and went to our car, nervous the whole time to be alone in a dark parking garage after hearing what we understood was a death threat against them.
Bambi Weavil: When you first heard the voice on the intercom system, what entered your mind? Were you by yourself in the lobby or with other people to see their reaction?
Waymon Hudson: When the announcement first came over the PA, it was towards the end of the baggage claim cycle, so there were only about 20 people from our flight left. It was 1 am (our flight was delayed), so we were the last flight and only passengers left in the terminal. When the recording played, you could see a kind of puzzled look pass over the remaining passengers’ faces and sort of general murmur of “what was that” pass through the crowd. We were the only obviously gay people in the group, so I imagine we took the threat more seriously than others.
When I first heard the recording come over the PA, I was completely shocked. When it played a second time a few minutes later, I became very nervous and scared. I felt as if we were being targeted and threatened. Since we were unable to find security or help, I was extremely nervous walking into the dark parking garage after hearing what could only be described as a death threat come over the PA at a major US airport. Too often for our community violent words are followed by violent deeds, and that is what I feared would happen to us as we made our way to our car.
BW: What kind of red tape did you have to cut through to get results?
WH: Almost just as frustrating as the initial incident was the airport manager’s response to us the next day when we called to report it. After being shuffled through numerous groups at the airport, we ended up with this manager whose didn’t seem to take us seriously. His response was, “So let me get this straight. You were offended by a bible verse at the airport?” When we tried to explain that it contained and obvious threat of death directed towards us, he blew us off and ended the conversation with, “Sorry for your inconvenience.”
We waited until the next day and heard nothing from the airport, so we had to push it further ourselves. We luckily knew the County Commissioner, Ken Keechl (an openly-gay man), so we called him. We had to further push the issue personally by contacting the local media, which opened us up to retaliation and backlash. If the threat had been taken seriously in the first place, we never would have had to put ourselves in the public eye and become the subject of more threats and hate. Only after we kept persuing the issue did the police and airport become involved and figure out who did this.
BW: Before this happened to you, did you consider Ft. Lauderdale a gay friendly place?
WH: I still consider Fort Lauderdale to be an extremely progressive and gay-friendly place to live. That is what makes this experience and the poor reaction so shocking. If this can happen in a major gay community, imagine what others go through every day in less open and accepting communities across the country.
It was nice that the Mayor of Broward County, as well airport officials, called to personally apologize once the story was taken seriously. They held a press conference condemning the act and publicly apologized for our experience (albeit after we had to involve the media).
BW: What has your experience been like since this story broke out? Are you surprised by the reaction?
WH: Our experience has been both good and bad. On the negative side, we have experienced severe backlash for speaking out. While we expected some, the amount was quite surprising. The national media coverage and inflammatory nature of the story (the “bible-verse” aspect, us being gay, etc) made us targets for more hate.
Adding to this was some of the reporting of our story, which included skewed and sensationalistic headlines that focused on the “bible verse” aspect of this incident. This opened us up for attack from quite a few conservative groups, blogs, and radio shows. Websites and open forums began to fill with personal attacks directed at us. Every anti-gay slur, threat of damnation, and condemnation of us you could imagine appeared. Our motives, names, and appearances were attacked and drug through the mud. It has reached a level where it has started to become dangerous and make us fear for our physical safety. A few days ago, a woman stopped me in the aisle of our neighborhood grocery store and said, “Didn’t I see you on the news?” I said yes, and she looked me in the eye and replied, “You faggots deserve exactly what that man said.” That experience was nothing compared the next day, when I left our gym and on my car windshield was a note that had “FAG!” scribbled across it. I was so concerned that I ended up driving around our neighborhood so no one could follow me home. My partner has also received hate mail both in his work email and mailed directly to him. We have had dubious–looking people lurking around our house and looking in our windows. Just recently, a woman came up to me and spit in my face at the grocery store and called me a “sinful faggot”. We have since taken steps to ensure our safety.
On the positive side, it motivated us to speak out and stand up for what we believed in. It proved that two determined people can make a difference. I think we forget sometimes as a community that individuals can make a huge impact if they work hard enough.
BW: Did the gay community in Ft. Lauderdale help rally behind you?
WH: The gay community all across the country rallied behind us. We received tons of emails, letters, and words of encouragement from all over. I kept updating people through emails and social networking sites (like myspace), as well as talking on GLBT radio shows (like The Michaelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius radio) about what was happening. Without even asking them to, people wrote letters and made calls to the Fort Lauderdale Airport, the tourism board, the county, media outlets, and the company that employed the man responsible for the recording, demanding they take action. It really made a difference to us knowing that we received such support. It really made dealing with the negative backlash easier.
BW: Do you feel that employees at Fort Lauderdale Airport receive diversity training?
WH: I think the employees of the county do, but I am unsure about the contracted workers (which is what Jethro Monestine was). He worked for an outside company (Superior Aircraft Services) and as such was not subject to the county requirements of diversity training, which he obviously needed.
BW: Do you feel mainstream media has been fair to you and your partner?
WH: Over all, I would say yes. I was surprised that we had to really take control of the story, though. If a media outlet framed things poorly, we followed-up with them and told them our opinions on how it came across. They were all very sensitive and receptive to our point of view.
The glaring exception, of course, was the Sun-Sentinel Newspaper. They published repeated stories without contacting us (yet we were somehow quoted), all of which had twisted titles (“Prankster fired for playing bible verse that offended gays” being just one of them). The latest story was a completely one-sided piece that started “An apologetic, self-described prankster was fired Monday after officials said they found out he used an airport speaker system to play a Bible verse that offended a gay couple.” The story then goes onto to tell how friends, co-workers, and family members say he is a “good person, good worker, and devout Christian.” At no point did they ever contact anyone in our lives to find out any information about us. Unfortunately, this was the story picked up by the Associated Press. I will say that most agencies that used the AP story fixed the slanted reporting and inflammatory
headlines.
BW: What positive would you like to come out of this?
WH: I would love to use our experience to help other who are thrust unexpectedly into the spotlight for speaking out on GLBT issues. We had no real resources or guidance to help us do this, which made it much more challenging.
I also want people to know that you can fight back. If you speak up loud enough, the world will listen, even if you are just one small person. We all can make a difference in our communities by standing up for the equality and respect we deserve. If what we have gone through can inspire just one person to stand up and fight back, then I will be happy.
BW: How has your life changed since this happened to you?
WH: Our life has changed drastically. I jokingly call myself “The Accidental Activist”, since we have become somewhat public figures for standing up against hate. We have spoken to lots of groups about our experiences and have become much more personally involved in the fight GLBT rights. I have never been a very confident public speaker before, but I am finding a real passion and need to speak out about how far we still have to go as a community and the importance of fighting back. I feel almost like all of this, both good and bad, has been a blessing. It has made me stronger and better member of the GLBT community. I wouldn’t change a thing.
BW: What do you feel the public is missing from this story that has yet to be said?
WH: I feel like the general public missing the fact that incidents like this happen everyday to GLBT people. While we have come a lone way in visibility and acceptance, we still have so far to go. Not only do we face constant bigotry and hatred, but we also have a difficult time as a community being taken seriously. That’s why things like the hate-crime bill are so important. It sends a clear message that we as a GLBT community will be taken seriously and protected.
Something I feel like the GLBT community is missing from this story is the importance of having out officials in every level of government. It makes a huge difference in where we can turn as a community. Also, the larger fight for rights (marriage equality, adoption, hate-crime legislation, etc) has a huge impact on our everyday lives as well. By being denied basic rights and freedoms, it creates an attitude in our country that you can openly discriminate against GLBT individuals without consequence. So even if you never want to get married, or have kids, these issues are important to our community. They set the tone that we are equal and deserve to be treated as such. So I encourage everyone to get involved in the fight for equality.
BW: Please tell us about your efforts to create a grassroots nonprofit now that this has happened to you.
WH: Through our experience and fight, we discovered that there wasn’t really any central guide or group to quickly assist individuals who are victims of discrimination and hate. There are many larger, national organizations that focus on legislation (which is VERY important), but there wasn’t anyone to really quickly come in and help us navigate speaking out. That’s why we have decided to start a grassroots non-profit organization (we are filing the paperwork right now, for both non-profit and charitable foundation status) that would focus on individuals in need of immediate assistance. The organization is called “Fight OUT Loud”.
The mission of Fight Out Loud is to assist the GLBT community in mobilizing against discrimination and hate crimes. We hope to use our experience and contacts to give guidance through the maze of government, media, police, and security issues that come from speaking out publicly on GLBT issues. Fight Out Loud will be a resource for our community, acting as a guide for framing issues and talking points, helping to get a coherent and effective message out, and providing contacts for the everyday person when their situation is not being taken seriously. We also hope to assist in training our community on how to react to incidents of discrimination and to raise awareness of the still present hatred and bigotry focused on GLBT individuals.
Another major part of Fight OUT Loud would be the Action Alert Email List. Anti-gay groups have been using them for years to put pressure on people and organizations, so we should do the same. I suppose you could call it “guerilla activism.” It would be a call to our community and its supporters for specific action (emails, phone calls, written letters) to help resolve a reported incident of discrimination (which was invaluable in our situation). All the information of the offending organization (email, phone numbers, addresses) will be provided in the Action Alert to allow people to easily help the community by raising our voice against injustice with just the click of a mouse. It is time we organized, as a community, and spoke with one, loud voice to stop the everyday hardships GLBT citizens face.
The website and online guide should be launching by the end of the week, as well as a myspace page. As I said before, we are in process of filing for non-profit and charitable foundation status, which would make all support and donations tax-deductible. I have gotten great feed-back and support from some of the larger national GLBT organizations, which will hopefully help us out. We plan on doing a “soft-launch” within the community to gain membership and support, and then a major mainstream media push to announce it.
BW: We fully support Waymon’s efforts and encourage everyone to see and support Fight OUT Loud’s Website, visit: http://www.fightoutloud.org/
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