An Air France steward has launched an online petition protesting against gay staff that are forced to fly to Iran, where homosexuaity can result in the death penalty.
The petition comes a week after female Air France cabin crew won the right to refuse Tehran flights after their employer released a memo instructing women to wear a headscarf and modest trousers if they were due to land in the Iranian capital.
A deal with unions led to Air France allowing female staff, including stewardesses and pilots, the choice to opt out of flying to Tehran.
The airline will resume flights to Tehran on 17 April after an eight-year hiatus following international sanctions being lifted.
The change.org petition, addressed to Frederic Cagey and French Transport minister Alain Vidalies, demands that gay flight attendants be allowed “the right to refuse to go to a country where they could be killed for who they are”.
Written by Laurent M, the letter reads, “Homosexuality is still illegal in the country [with] a punishment of 74 lashes for a minor and the death penalty for adults”.
“Sure our sexuality isn’t written on our passports and it doesn’t change the way we work as s crew. But it is unconscionable to force someone to go to a country where his kind are condemned for who they are”, he added.
A spokesperson from the union told French newspaper, the Metro, the issue of staff wanting to avoid flying to Iran “has been tackled for the entire aircrew, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.”
The petition currently has received more than 2,400 signatures.
