Gay United Flight Attendant Fired Over Anti-Gay Conversation In Galley and Online Postings

A United Airlines flight attendant has been fired after reportedly having an anti-gay conversation with another flight attendant in the galley. Digging in a bit more, it looks like his social media posts might have been what ultimately did him in, though. The kicker: the flight attendant making the derogatory comments is is also gay.

Lucky at One Mile at a Time reported earlier today that Ruben Sanchez, age 52, was terminated from his 28-year tenure as a flight attendant after an incident on a flight in May 2023 caused a customer to report him. During the redeye from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) he struck up a conversation with a colleague around their shared Catholic faith and his views around Pride Month (which began the day after the incident). The chat was apparently offensive to a passenger within earshot who reported that Sanchez said, “I hate all black people,” and “I am proudly anti-trans.” He denies these allegations, but his quote to The New York Post is also not filled with sunshine and rainbows. He’s quoted as saying:

You know, as Catholics, we’re not really supposed to be observing Pride. The church will never believe that men give birth, women have penises or that the church should bless same-sex marriages because marriage is a sacrament, and it’s not meant for two men or two women or three people or whatever. That’s all I said.”

Let’s break this down a bit. Pride is a celebration of love, liberty, and the right for LGBTQI+ people to live and remain visible. I was raised a Catholic and have veered away from organized religion while remaining spiritual. I’m also a gay man with a partner of 24 years (18 years of that time married). To my knowledge, the Catholic church has not said that Pride month is an issue or that parishioners should avoid it. I have not seen anything come from the Vatican to outwardly support this stance. It doesn’t support same sex marriage and I’m fine with that. It’s a shame, but if religious doctrine makes folks believe that than so be it. LGBTQI+ people want legal rights offered to heterosexual couples by the government and church should be kept separate. Further, whether or not you support trans individuals, you should not be expressing your views on customers while on the clock.

At @United, you can talk about sexual proclivities in private conversations, but you can't talk about Christianity! @X ##CancelCulture #Woke #CatholicX #CatholicTwitter https://t.co/DbGA1PzeWC

— Ruben D. Sanchez Jr (@rdsanchezjr) November 22, 2024

Sanchez further claims that a supervisor audited his personal X posts and took offense to some posts. Sanchez is also seen in his uniform and identified as a United employee. He was welcomed with open arms by firebrand, Ann Coulter, who discussed the incident with him. He claims to be the victim of “woke” and “cancel culture” as he was targeted based on his race and political views (in his opinion).

Not normal gay vs. Normal gay pic.twitter.com/yuTFqZxrJx

— Ruben D. Sanchez Jr (@rdsanchezjr) November 2, 2024

In my opinion, he was not fired because of this, but for the comments he made (whether they were what was reported verbatim or not) as well as not directly stating on his X account that the posts were his opinion and did not represent his employer. When you are in a service industry, you serve the customers and keep your opinions about race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. out of conversations that you’re having while working. The post above is one that was posted to his X account and is rather offensive.

I support Mr. Sanchez right to his own opinion and free speech. He can dislike trans people. He can be seemingly self loathing and conflicted about his own religion and sexual orientation. What he should not do is express this at his job, make other passengers uncomfortable, and then play the victim card. He’s started a GoFundMe and as of writing this article has raised over $12,000 of an $18,000 goal to “provide funds for men discerning the priesthood, but don’t have the funds to pursue it.”

United has a policy around social media usage by employees. It states that “social media posts should be respectful and not violent, defamatory or bullying in nature to anyone.” It seems pretty clear that some of his posts are not respectful.

Anthony’s Take: If this past election has taught me anything, it’s that we are a nation that is sharply divided. Regardless of whether you’re jubilant or despondent around the results of the election, the United States was built around free speech. But, just like you can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theater, you can’t be controversial online and not expect it to come back to haunt you and potentially cost you your employment.

(Featured Image Credit: @rdsanchezjr via X.)