Virgin Atlantic suspends gender neutral uniform for Qatar flight

Virgin crew, from left, Jamie Forsstreom, Tania Wiks, Alison Porte, Leigh Dixon, Gary Ogden and celebrity, Michelle Visage, center right, model new-look uniform and pronoun badges. Photo / Supplied

The carrier flying England’s World Cup squad to Qatar has folded on its commitment to gender-neutral uniforms for the high profile flight.

Virgin Atlantic, which gave crew freedoms for “gender fluid” uniforms in September, has said that this policy will not apply to the crew on board the plane on Tuesday.

The airline said crew “safety and security” were part of the decision in an interview with the BBC, adding that it does not normally operate into Doha.

Virgin said the plane carrying the team would feature an LGBT symbol on its livery.

Although Virgin did not set out this caveat in their original announcement on gender neutral uniforms, the airline said it reviews destinations “on a case by case basis to ensure the safety and security of our people and customers at all time.”

This was not deemed appropriate for Qatar, where homosexual behaviour is illegal.

Qatar has said that all fans from the 32 competing countries would be welcomed to the tournament “without discrimination”.

The country’s human rights record and treatment of LGBT communities have been called out by many visiting teams.

Airlines flying the LGBT flag into Qatar

The carrier said that, while it would not give crew their choice of uniform on Tuesday’s Doha flight, they would continue to use the new uniform in destinations with “more accepting of non-binary identities”.

“Initially the UK, US and Israel are the territories where the uniform policy is being rolled out for our people, as those countries are more accepting of non-binary identities allowing more self-expression,” it told the BBC.

Instead they would have the words “Rain Bow” on the fuselage of their A350, carrying England players out of Birmingham.

Fans and LGBT campaigners expressed their disappointment at virgin’s decision to suspend its pro-LGBT uniform guides and the motif on the side of the plane as paltry.

LGBT+ campaigner Alexander Leon called out Richard Branson’s airline for its “performative” allyship, saying it was “not about actually doing the right thing when it counts, it’s about seeming to do the right thing for the kudos.”

Earlier this week Lufthansa unveiled a special World Cup livery on the German team’s A330-300, carrying the slogan “diversity wins”. The paint job was revealed amid controversy in German media after a Qatari World Cup ambassador described homosexuality as “damage in the mind” and “haram” during an interview with Deutsche Welle.