Earlier this month we shared a disturbing story out of Oklahoma: A group of parents and other adults posted horrific messages to a school Facebook group, calling for a 12-year-old trans student to be physically attacked for using the girls’ bathroom.
One of these deplorable commenters was Kevin Bickerstaff, a pilot flying for Frontier Airlines. Or rather, a pilot formerly flying for Frontier Airlines.
Related: Facebook screenshots reveal parents at absolute worst, threatening 12-year-old with castration
The company confirmed it has suspended Bickerstaff for his participation in the group, which saw Bickerstaff referring to the child as “it” and encouraging other students to attack her in the bathroom.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Other comments suggested a “sharp knife will do the job really quick” and referred to the 7th grader as a “thing.”
In a statement, Frontier said:
“Frontier Airlines prides itself on setting an example as a respectful workplace and we do not condone discrimination. We have long-established standards of conduct, to which all employees must agree to adhere, that among other things require people to act in a professional manner and to treat each other with genuine respect and kindness.”
After discovering all the hateful, threatening messages, the student’s mother, Brandy Rose, launched a GoFundMe campaign for her family to move out of the state.
It has raised over $50k, a great deal more than the initial $15k goal.
Brandy expressed her gratitude in a Facebook message:
First, I want to say thank you to EVERYONE for all the love and support for my daughter. It has been an amazingly encouraging for her! Also, if you have reached out to me, and I haven’t reached back, please, please don’t be offended. I have received so many messages, and friend requests, it’s all so very overwhelming, not in a bad way, I’m not complaining, I promise! We LOVE all the awesome supportive messages, there’s just so many to get to, please be patient with me, and know we are so appreciative! You are all amazing, and thank you! One of the people that reached out to me started a gofundme page to help us move closer to some very dear family, in a much bigger city in Texas, that will have so many more resources for Maddie, and while I know the school district here is doing everything they can to help keep Maddie safe at school, it’s not just at school that I’m scared for her, and where we would like to move to is much more open to people like my daughter, she’d have more medical resources, and we’d be with loving, supportive family. We’ve been wanting to move there for years, but it has never been financially possible. If this fundraiser actually works, it would be life changing for our family! So, even though it’s kind of embarrassing to ask strangers for help like this, I figure anything that might help my family is worth a try. I am so grateful that this person did this for us! So, I’m going to ask that, if y’all don’t mind, would you please share this link to A Move for Maddie? I don’t know what will come from it, but if it will help get my family where we need to be, it’s worth a try. Thank you so much! For everything!
Hello everyone! This is the first post I've made since everything has happened. First, I want to say thank you to…
Posted by Brandy Kay Rose on Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Vince
Way 2 go Frontiers Airline.
motownjock
Couldn’t have said it any better.
Brian
Please keep up with this story. It was such an extreme case of harassment that there should be plenty of follow-up.
There were dozens of parents involved, and this is a very small town. Were any of the parents also teachers? Sports coaches? In the PTA? On the school board? None of them should be in charge of children. I’m waiting to hear confirmation that they’ve ALL been removed from such posts.
Bob LaBlah
Once upon a time airlines gave a damn about who they hired. Nowadays they want to know two things: can you fly the plane safely and can you pass the drug test at the time of hiring. I remember back in the late 1990’s when the $275k per year United Airlines paid its 747 jumbo pilots. That salary is now a thing of the past. Tractor-trailer drivers make more money and don’t have a tenth of the responsibility these $35-45k per year pilots are making. The same goes for the ground crew and customer service sections of airlines. They hired ex-cons, welfare to work and just about every low life the government will give them a tax break for hiring. If the destination is less than 1k miles I’ll drive to keep from putting up the those pony-tailed wearing imbeciles the TSA hired. Its a mess in the airline industry and this guys comments does not shock me at all.
JeffP
Bob. Wow, pointing fingers at groups of individuals you have no idea about doesn’t separate you very far from the bullies you’re condemning in the above article. Crude slang “cons” “welfare to work” “low life”. Did you know that a family of 3 with 2 working parents at Walmart qualify for food stamps? Did you know that’s part of the TANIF or Welfare system? I suppose you didn’t. Don’t you believe individuals who may have made a mistake in their life deserve a second chance? When did we become a society that throws people away … oh, yeah. I remember now. When people like you spout negative rhetoric about others putting them down … perhaps to bring yourself up. I don’t disagree that the airline industry is a mess. However let’s take a closer look at the reasons why. Oh, wait, is it because the prices are so low that anyone can fly? Should we reserve flying to the elite … then you wouldn’t need to be concerned with this industry. Or are you the elitist that is trying to keep others out? So many unanswered questions. Why can’t everyone just get along, understand that there are as many personalities out there as there are people and no two are the same. If we can’t open our minds to accepting others for who they are, where they are, then maybe the problem is with us and not them. Good for Frontier. Keep your customers safe. Keep your identity and brand clean.
Josh in OR
It’s ALMOST as if Reagan’s ‘heroic’ crippling of the air traffic controller’s union and the utterly ignorant, greedy, evil deregulation of the air travel industry a few years before were BAD for America…!
Who knew that stripping airlines of the regulations that kept us safe and comfortable – and the destruction of the unions that ensured that the employees were well qualified and well compensated – would have a negative effect on air travel, those who use it, and those who actually do the work of operating the industry? Who could have predicted that rich people wielding the government’s power to effectively steal money from workers in order to give it to the stock brokers and investors and other assorted worthless, greedy pencil pushers who have private airplanes and don’t need to worry about such mundanities as ‘flying coach’ would backfire…?
Bob LaBlah
@ JeffP……………..Why did you leave off the part about being more comfortable on a Greyhound bus than a seat in todays airlines? At salaries that low who else do you think are going to take jobs where the work is so physically demanding most quit after three months? Haven’t you wondered why airlines are always hiring? Of course the seats are cheaper because and the passengers more rowdy and restless because the bottom line is profit, not comfort and customer care oriented. When was the last time you arrived at a check in counter and the person behind the counter actually greeted you with a smile?
thinair
This article details it quite well how deregulation has screwed us.
http://prospect.org/article/unfriendly-skies
Personally I think its kind of a stretch to link this transphobic pilot’s comments with airline de-regulation, but I don’t fault anyone for doing that. Personally I think the church has a lot more to do with it, and then simply a toxic culture and environment that stokes the fears the church instills. Most people are sheep and simply will think like the rest of the community in the small town they live in, or even the big city they live in. There is simply more difference of opinion in the larger cities, so more to be exposed to in order to break down those irrational fears.
Bob LaBlah
@ol’thinair…………I lived in the big cities of Los Angeles and NYC before I got smart and moved back home to Oklahoma and my small town values never left me. I stand by my assessment of the industry and why no one should be surprised as to the mentality of this pilot. Once upon a time a pilot would have forced a smile and kept on going but nowadays the frustration of low pay, lousy working conditions and having to work along side people you know should have never been there in the first place takes it too on personnel and hiring. A warm body is needed and the virtual cess pool they are now chosen from has an endless supply waiting for all who prefer tax breaks to quality employees.
Seattle.Duck
Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this. What this man said is disgusting. (Even worse is the person who suggested knifing the student.) And maybe they’re can be legal consequences for it. But why should he lose his job over something he said off-duty? I could understand if he refused to let her fly in his plane or encouraged other passengers to attack her. Yet what he does in his own time, no matter how horrible it is, should not affect his ability to work.
radiooutmike
Well, most of the US is at-will for employment, so you can be fired for pretty much anything. Even stuff from your personal life that affects your job or your employer in some way is up for grabs.
If he is a member of a union, then he would have recourse. Situations like this are exactly why we need unions.
truckproductions
If we can get fired for being gay in conservative states still, then why can’t he be fired for being a despicable human being who is advocating death on one of our own? Hope he rots in hell with the rest of the trumper traitors out there
DarkZephyr
Well, I know that I wouldn’t want MY business associated with somebody like that, so I don’t blame that AT ALL. They made a sound business choice. And these days many people in at least somewhat important positions have to sign contracts that they will conduct themselves publicly in ways that are befitting of the company’s policies. But back to the sound business choice point, in this day and age of social media, keeping somebody like this in your employ can tank you badly.
JeffP
His mouth doesn’t affect his ability to work it affects the amount of revenue his company makes. When an employees mouth affects a companies bottom line, they need to go. If I knew Frontier supported, or failed to act, on this I would stop flying them. Look at what the city of Boston did to Chik-fil-a. They kept them from coming into their city because of their stance on homosexuality. What we speak we become. Bravo for suspending this guy. Should he get his job back, well is he going to apologize to her directly and to the public? Should he be demoted as a punishment to teach his mouth a lesson? Absolutely. Let him work his way back up the ladder. Did it once, shame on him. Affect his pay long enough he’ll change his attitude or at least he can go get a job from a company that doesn’t care about individual rights.
DCguy
It’s always interesting that on every story like this we have a brand new account that comes in and says the exact same thing
“Well, what they said was terrible, but……..”
Republicans and right wingers fought to remove all employee protections for American workers. Guess what, that goes both ways. It just doesn’t harm unions and liberal employees, it can also be used against bigots.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
GREAT IDEA!!! Move a transkid to TEXAS!!
A state with the one if the WORST environments for GLBT people!!
joeboyle49
I AGREE WITH PLAYE’S WELL WITH OTHERS TEXAS IS ONE OF THE WORST STATES FOR ANYBODY THAT LGBTQI IN THE COMMUNITY.!
Billysees
truckproductions
If we can get fired for being gay in conservative states still, then why can’t he be fired for being a despicable human being who is advocating death on one of our own?
Good comment …
offroadnutz
It doesn’t matter whether you’re gay, straight, bi, transgendered, or anything else, when you, as an adult, advocate for violence against a twelve-year-old child you are useless. Advocating violence against anyone because of their sexuality is just ludicrous. When you ask people, and I have, what difference does it make to them whether or not a person is gay or straight or trans 90%, 90%, reply that personally they don’t have an issue with it but they don’t a like them, don’t want to associate with them, don’t know any of them personally, would probably recognize one if they were standing in front of them, and a few of you said they’d, ” fuck them up in a heartbeat.” This must be a form of psychosis.How can people advocate for these kinds of actions against perfect strangers when they have no effect on their lives whatsoever?
TomG
Look I am gay, and I don’t understand the trans-gendered mind. Only someone who is transgendered can understand what goes on. So unless you personally are trans, then you shouldn’t be dissing something you have no personal understanding about.
jdr11201
The pilot should lose his license for bigotry and bias towards lgbt passengers.