Timothy Powaleny / Wikimedia Commons
CV NEWS FEED // A gay Catholic flight attendant who was fired for telling a colleague in private that “men don’t give birth” is suing United Airlines for wrongfully dismissing him.
Ruben Sanchez, a self-described “openly gay practicing Catholic,” worked for United Airlines for nearly 28 years before he was fined in January 2024, according to a Feb. 3 article on flight website Paddle Your Own Kanoo.
United Airlines began “investigating” Sanchez after he had a private conversation in May 2023 with a colleague about the Catholic Church’s teachings on human sexuality.
Sanchez stated on his GoFundMe page, which he launched in October 2024, “Specifically, as it was May 31, I had stated that as Catholics, we are not to be affirming, celebrating, or observing Pride Month, something United Airlines observes and takes seriously.”
A customer overheard the conversation and complained to United Airlines over X, stating that Sanchez expressed “transphobic, homophobic, and racist ideas.” As a result, Sanchez’s supervisor began investigating him and searching through his personal social media accounts.
The supervisor selected 35 posts, memes that Sanchez had reposted, that he stated proved Sanchez lacked “dignity, respect, professionalism, and responsibility,” even though the memes were on Sanchez’s personal account which is not affiliated with United.
“Bottom line is, I was terminated based on a supervisor’s opinion of what type of person I was based off of reading some random tweets that all started when a customer complained about me saying men don’t give birth, women don’t have penises, and the Catholic church could never approve of gay marriage as it is a Sacrament,” Sanchez wrote.
The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) initially agreed to represent Sanchez; however, they dropped his case when it reached its national master executive council, according to Paddle Your Own Kanoo.
Sanchez has now raised more than $18,000, which was his goal, the GoFundMe page shows. He stated that extra funds will be donated to charities that support men who are seeking to enter the priesthood but lack the funds.
He wrote, “I’m not interested in vengeance, retaliation, or causing economic harm to either United Airlines or AFA.” Instead, he is only seeking to have his job restored.
Paddle Your Own Kanoo states that Sanchez is currently working as an active-duty member of the Air National Guard in Alaska.
