Denis O'Hare and partner had airport troubles

Interesting story
Airport Troubles

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The title of the article kind of irks me. Why couldn't they use his name instead of "Gay Actor"?

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I believe it's because the article was syndicated from a gay magazine. Not that it makes a difference...

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I've just accepted that TSA is the new Gestapo, so nothing they do really surprises me at this point.

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This almost sounds like a bad "L" word episode.

Granted, in these times, even joking abuot terrorism is dangerous (which is a whole different discussion), but charging him with a crime for a joke . . . give me a friggin break.

I wonder if they were married in a state that accepted civil unions, or in a country that recognized gay marriage, would the officer be so damn smug.

This is just getting so over the top that it would be funny, if not for the innocent people caught in the middle of it.

Note: my grandmother called, she got pulled aside for a secondary screening, and was giving a fully body cavity search. She joked about Joseph McCarthy, and someone thought she said Osama Bin Laden.

I really don't think that was the case, this was the line before it:

"Neither O'Hare nor Redwood believes his treatment was racially motivated (Redwood is African-American), nor do they think it was motivated by homophobia."

If either of them actually suspected it was homophobia, it would have been discussed much more at length, especially in PlanetOut. It's just another case of the TSA getting drunk off their power and the government letting them. They just happened to get attention for it because of Denis O'Hare's name.

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Updated On: 11/2/05 at 01:06 AM

I don't understand the whole running away to Canada thing. Then there are 2 less people to vote against the next crazy Republican that comes along.

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While the TSA worker seemed to be a little over zealous, I can't say O'Hare and his partner were not without fault in all of this. As some people above have mentioned, joking about terrorism in an airport is a big no-no (and rightfully so). Perhaps the "stern warning" the one worker was going to issue would have been enough.

Neither O'Hare nor his partner seem to think the event was racially or sexually motivated. It seems they were objecting to the treatment they received in detention. Aside from charging them with a crime (which I completlely disagree with), I don't fault the TSA workers that much. The comments made by O'Hare's partner were stupid , and I'm glad they were looked into. Better to be safe than sorry.

I would be interested to read another article/account of this incident from another publication. This tone of this article has a clear slant to it, and it's hard to discern what actually happened.

The thing is "I guess we must be terrorist suspects," isn't the sort of comment that warrents an investigation in my opinion. It barely deserved the initial "stern warning."

I find wearing my "What would Jesus bomb" t-shirt serves the same purpose.

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How do you know the TSA workers responsible for detaining O'Hare and his partner were Republicans? I always thought of airport security as a non-partisan thing. Do the TSA employees now wear badges identifying their political affiliation?

I don't understand the whole running away to Canada thing. Then there are 2 less people to vote against the next crazy Republican that comes along.

I understand it. You can only rage against this horrible government for so long before you realize we don't have a lot of time on this earth - and that time should be spent in love, not in war - in acceptance, not in hate.

Canada is looking better and better to me every day!

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Except that neither O'Hare nor his partner felt the event was racially or sexually motivated. They both say so in the article.