Yesterday, a lesbian couple was asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight for a kiss that was deemed an “excessive” display of affection by a flight attendant because Southwest is a “family friendly” airline.

Maybe the kiss was excessive.  I don’t know.  The persons involved say that it was not.  I don’t know that it matters.

My suspicion is that if they were a straight couple, we wouldn’t be talking about this at all.  If that kiss was an excessive display by straight people, I think people would have rolled their eyes at the obnoxious couple in Seat 11A and B and buried their noses in some magazine until the flight was over.

It’s no secret that as a general rule and on the whole, Muslims are a homophobic bunch.  With laws in some places of the “Muslim world”* that deem homosexuality as an offense punishable with death in extreme cases, that’s not a generalization in the least.  It is a fact.

It’s not secret either that I am a Muslim and a notable exception to this generalization.

I am an ally, advocate and friend of the GLBT community.  The verdict is still out on the Qs.

Relax, I’m kidding.

My choice to support my friends is based on personal relationships, a general tendency towards humanism and alternative study and work by Muslims themselves. (Side note: It’s funny what happens when you start reading all kinds of books instead of just the ones that you already agree with.)

I gather that there are many (albeit less vocal) Muslims like me.

For those who are not, however, I’d like them to consider a few points.

We know being Muslim in this post 9/11 word is difficult.

(Oh, good, obvious and trite statements.  Yay!)

We understand rationales behind security screenings and the lack of randomness in “random.” My personal belief is that the irritations that most people with Muslim sounding names have to go through are a result of general ignorance about Islam, its disparate cultures and the wide variety of methodologies of its practitioners.

Our life is hard because people don’t bother to learn about this.  These hardships increase when people make decisions based on sound bites of information rather than intensive and thoughtful learning.  We know that their insistence that they don’t have the time is ridiculous.

We know that if they really felt that our existence posed an existential dilemma for them that they would devote more time to learning about us than the twenty or so minutes they watch the news or, worse, sub even that for a talk with someone else who has watched the news.

In the past year, several Muslims have been asked to leave planes for the comfort of other passengers.

For example, just as recently as May, right here in my new home of Memphis, Tennessee, a Delta pilot refused to take off because of two Muslim scholars who were on their way to… wait for the irony… a conference on Islamaphobia.  They were dressed in traditional Arab garb which obviously makes them terrorists.  The plane took off without them.  Delta apologized and put them on another plane.

As a Muslim, this bothers me.  I assume that it bothered lots of Muslims.

I know why it bothers me.

What I wonder, though, is why it bothers other Muslims?

Does it bother Muslims because Muslims were asked to leave a plane?

That’s not why it bothers me.

It bothers me because the actions were ignorant.

Misguided, misinformed and without merit.  To assume that other passengers are in danger because you think someone looks like a terrorist is wrong, especially when the criteria you are using to deem someone as a terrorist consists solely of looking at them and determining what religion they are.

This, incidentally, is the same brand of ignorance that causes people to assume that someone who is gay or a lesbian is some deviant threat to society and completely misses the fact that statistical probabilities and facts indicate that they are most likely a treasured friend, a great parent, a devoted partner or spouse, a member of a genuine  family and/or a very productive member of society.

I am not upset because I’m a Muslim and Muslims were asked to leave a plane in Memphis, Tennessee.

I’m upset by these incidences because people were mistreated based on their identity and this is in complete contradiction to my personal values and what I believe are the core values of this nation.

As an American, I will not filter who is afforded respect, fair treatment and the right to live with dignity.

I will not stand by and say it’s okay for you to discriminate against that person because that person is not as much of a person as I am but don’t you discriminate against me because I am better than that person.

Some things are wrong because they are wrong.

It doesn’t matter who those things are happening to.

Next time someone is asked to leave a plane, Muslim or not, this is something to keep in mind.

*I hate that term “Muslim world.”  Like it’s a different planet.  Take me to your leader.