Flight Attendant Union Urges NYC Pride Parade to Return to Inclusion
Washington, DC (June 23, 2017) — The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) called on the Heritage of Pride, organizers of the NYC Pride Parade, to allow all airline employees to participate in the parade with pride in self and the advancements they've made where they work. Heritage of Pride’s exclusive corporate sponsorship contracts prohibit all but one airline from "showing pride" in the NYC Pride parade.
AFA sent a letter to Heritage last week with the hope of resolving this issue and making sure everyone can celebrate the equality won at work. The letter reads in part:
“Our 10,000 NYC metro area members have been effectively barred from marching with pride in the advancements they fought to gain at work due to the exclusive sponsorship contract signed by Heritage of Pride.
“Flight Attendants sacrificed greatly in order to courageously blaze a path of equality through the airline industry and they want and deserve the right to march with their airline colleagues in the NYC Pride parade.
“NYC Pride should be the epicenter of commemorating the long, incredibly hard-fought victories of the LGBTQ airline community. Discriminating against certain members of this community is anathema to Pride. I strongly urge you to end this discriminatory sponsorship policy so that our members can march with pride in where they work and celebrate the true, inclusive spirit of NYC Pride.”
Heritage of Pride has not responded to these concerns and tomorrow's parade will fail to exhibit the spirit of inclusion it was founded to showcase. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA is hopeful this celebration of equality and individual expression doesn't continue to turn on its head to take the LGTBQ movement back years by declaring "winners" and "losers" with corporate dollars.
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The Association of Flight Attendants is the Flight Attendant union. Focused 100 percent on Flight Attendant issues, AFA has been the leader in advancing the Flight Attendant profession for 71 years. Serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA has transformed the Flight Attendant profession by raising wages, benefits and working conditions. Nearly 50,000 Flight Attendants come together to form AFA, part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.
