An Arizona mother is calling out Delta Air Lines after she was unable to buy a plane ticket for her nonbinary child.
Dawn Henry, 52, wanted to buy a surprise trip for her adult child. But the airline's gender options - which is limited to just male or female - made it impossible for her to book them onto the flight.
Henry's 21-year-old child is nonbinary, meaning they identify as neither exclusively male nor female.
Their gender identity doesn't pose an issue on a birth certificate or a drivers' license, where it is signified with an X marker.
Frustrated, Henry took to Twitter to try and bring the issue to people's attention.
"I am committed to fixing this, not just for my child, but for everyone who holds legal ID with an X gender marker," she told NBC News in a Twitter message. "My hope is that pressure on the airlines (not just Delta, but the others that have not updated their systems) will get this done."
She went on to slam Delta for its discriminatory policy, tweeting: "As it stands, at least with @Delta, #nonbinary people are not allowed to fly.
"When a policy makes it impossible to buy a ticket that will comport with TSA guidelines, the result is the same. And that’s discrimination."
Delta was among the US airlines that announced they would be updating the booking tools to be inclusive of nonbinary passengers three years ago.
Since then, at least two of those airlines - American Airlines and United Airlines - have made good on their word and provided the option to book as 'nonbinary'.
But alongside several other major airlines including Alaska and Jetblue, Delta is still yet to update its booking system. A company spokesperson said that the option would arrive at some time this year.
"Delta Air Lines is a proud, long-time supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and we understand that being seen and acknowledged is part of having an equitable travel experience," they said. "While we quickly shifted focus due to COVID in early 2020 to helping customers navigate the rapidly changing environment and government regulations, we are back on track to be able to offer a non-binary gender option in our booking systems in 2022."
Until then, Henry said that she would not be taking legal action - but that she was by no means giving up.
"I will not stop pursuing this until every U.S. Airline with a discriminatory reservation system has made the long-overdue changes," she said.
