Southwest Airlines got issues.

And those issues, on any given day or flight, appear arbitrary to its customers.

For example, little did lead guitarist for the punk rock band “Green Day” Billie Joe Armstrong know that flying while wearing “saggy pants” can evict you off Southwest Airlines. This past Labor Day weekend, on September 1, Armstrong was booted off a Southwest Airlines for “saggy pants.” When Armstrong, in disbelief, queried, “Don’t you have better things to do than worry about that?” The response from the flight attendant was curt and pointed: “Pull your pants up or you’re getting off the plane.”

Another example, little did film director Kevin Smith know that flying while being oversized could also evict you off Southwest. In February 2010, Smith was removed from his Southwest seat because he was deemed too obese to fly safely, although he was able to put both armrests down in accordance with airline policy.

On the morning of September 26th, both Leisha Hailey, actress and musician known for her role as Alice Pieszecki in the Showtime Networks production “The L Word,” and, her gal pal/bandmate, Camila Grey, of “Uh Huh Her,” boarded Southwest Airlines Flight 2274. Hailey and the band are preparing to launch a 21-city tour to promote breast cancer awareness.

But little did Hailey and Grey know that flying while kissing could cause a kerfuffle with the airline. Hailey and Grey, both incensed and humiliated, were escorted off the flight.

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

But Southwest thought their action was justified. Several passengers on Flight 2274 complained that their display of affection with each other was objectionably inappropriate, “characterizing the behavior as excessive.” And Hailey tweeted that a “Flt. attendant said that it was a “family” airline and kissing was not ok.”

With all the brouhaha about Hailey’s and Grey’s “excessive” and “inappropriate” smacking, of course, we all now want to know what kind of kiss was it to bring national attention to it. Into what category of kissing does theirs fall in the science of kissing called philematology?

The Romans created three categories of kissing: 1) “Osculum,” a kiss on the cheek, 2) “Basium,” a kiss on the lips, and 3) “Savolium,” a deep kiss.

“We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one modest kiss,” Hailey’s written statement said. “We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple.”

How could “one modest kiss,” a Category 2, at best, on the Romans scale, cause such a kerfuffle?

According to Southwest, their action was non-discriminatory and had everything to do with customer satisfaction.

“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,” the airline said in a news release posted on its website.

However, I like to know how many heterosexual couples have been or would be thrown off Southwest Airlines for kissing?

Would it even be an issue?

While their peck on the lips should be a non-issue - for passengers and Southwest - the elephant that weighed down Flight 2274 was homophobia.

“No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn’t make it any less loud,” Hailey’s statement said. “You can’t whisper hate. We ask this airline to teach their employees to not discriminate against any couple, ever, regardless of their own beliefs.”

Southwest would say that it doesn’t discriminate. As a matter of fact, Southwest Airlines boast that it is the official airlines for several of our national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) organizations.

“At Southwest Airlines, we take pride in our outreach and commitment to the GLBT community. We have community partnerships with a variety of local and national organizations who are dedicated to GLBT causes and initiatives. As an example, we are the official airline of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA), and the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). We look forward to welcoming you onboard soon,” stated its website.

However, while you can do LGBTQ sensitivity trainings and alter laws in this country to do the right thing toward a disenfranchised segment of the population, you cannot always alter the hearts and attitudes of its citizens. For some of the passengers as well as Southwest’s fight crew, seeing two people of the same gender kissing is seen as a signed decree by the airlines sanctioning sexual depravity.

And let’s not forget that even in 2011, there exists the “ick factor,” the revulsion some heterosexuals feel toward the way we LGBTQ people engage in social and sexual intimacy. Altering the individual hearts and minds of these folks will take a while, if not a lifetime.

But Southwest Airlines serves the public. And they have to do better, so that the next time a lesbian couple boards one of Southwest’s flights, they’ll not be escorted off for kissing their gal pal - for flying while gay.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, the Rev. Irene Monroe, is a religion columnist, theologian, and public speaker. She is the Coordinator of the African-American Roundtable of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS) at the Pacific School of Religion. A native of Brooklyn, Rev. Monroe is a graduate from Wellesley College and Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University, and served as a pastor at an African-American church before coming to Harvard Divinity School for her doctorate as a Ford Fellow. She was recently named to MSNBC’s list of 10 Black Women You Should Know. Reverend Monroe is the author of Let Your Light Shine Like a Rainbow Always: Meditations on Bible Prayers for Not’So’Everyday Moments. As an African-American feminist theologian, she speaks for a sector of society that is frequently invisible. Her website is irenemonroe.com. Click here to contact the Rev. Monroe.