Leisha Hailey and girlfriend Camila Grey make statement about Southwest kissing controversy

You’ve got to figure if a man and a woman shared a kiss while on an airplane, no one would think twice.

But two women sharing a kiss? Is it still enough to get you kicked off of a flight in the year 2011?

There are two stories being told in a growing controversy between Southwest Airlines and actress Leisha Hailey of The L Word fame and her girlfriend Camila Grey.

Make up your own mind over who to believe.

The women said in a statement today that they are in the process of filing a formal complaint with the airline after they were escorted off of their flight this week for being affectionate with each other.

Southwest maintains that the flight crew received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive. The women said they shared a “modest kiss.”

“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 statement. “We regret any circumstance where a passenger does not have a positive experience on Southwest and we are ready to work directly with the passengers involved to offer our heartfelt apologies for falling short of their expectations.”

Hailey and Grey said in their statement today: “We believe everyone has the right to live openly in this society as equals. In no way were our actions on Southwest Airlines excessive, inappropriate or vulgar. We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one, modest kiss. We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple. We were on the airplane less than 5 minutes when all was said and done. We take full responsibility for getting verbally upset with the flight attendant after being told it was a “family airline.” We were never told the reason the flight attendant approached us, we were only scolded that we “needed to be aware that Southwest Airlines was a family oriented airline.”

“No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn’t make it any less loud,” they added. “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. We want to live in a society where if your loved one leans over to give you an innocent kiss on an airplane it’s not labeled as “excessive or not family oriented” by a corporation and it’s employees. We find it very disturbing that the same airline who lauds itself as being LGBT friendly has twisted an upsetting incident that happened into our behavior being “too excessive.”

In a second statement released today, Southwest makes clear the women were removed from the flight because of their profane language and not the kiss. (But would they have been swearing had they not felt singled out and discriminated against?)

The airline stated: “Our tenets of inclusion and celebration of diversity among our Customers and Employees-including those in the LGBT communities-anchor our Culture of mutual respect and following the Golden Rule.   The more than 100 million people who fly Southwest each year reflect the great diversity of our country and our Company – and ALL are valued and welcome.  In fact, we’ve been recognized as a leader in diversity throughout our 40 years of service.”