Alice Hoagland, the mother of gay 9/11
hero Mark Bingham, has criticized Carson Daly for suggesting gay
folks are not courageous.
Daly created a firestorm of protest on
his radio show Wednesday when he made a joke about JetBlue Airways
pilot Captain Clayton Osbon, who was wrestled to the ground by
passengers as the airplane made an emergency landing.
“On this particular flight, most of
the people were on their way to some sort of security conference in
Las Vegas,” Daly said. “So it was a bunch of dudes, and
well-trained dudes.”
“If that were me … with my luck, it
would be like, 'This is a flight going to the [Gay] Pride parade in
San Francisco.'”
“Uh, we're headed down to Vegas for
the floral convention,” he added with an effeminate voice and a
laugh.
Daly apologized for the joke, saying
he was a “proud” ally of the gay community.
In a statement released
to TMZ.com, Hoagland reminded Daly that her son displayed courage
when he joined the group of passengers who stormed the cockpit of
United Flight 93 on 9/11.
“Yes, my gay son was known in our
family for bringing me flowers on my birthday and Mother's Day. He
was also known for careening down the rugby pitch, and, on the
morning of September 11, 2001, for charging unarmed down the aisle of
a doomed Boeing 757 to face knife-wielding Islamist thugs in a
hijacked cockpit,” she said.
“No one among his pick-up team of
fellow passengers was asking 'Are you straight? Are you gay?'”
“The world has its share of strong,
heroic gay men.”
She concluded: “I hope you and I may
have an opportunity to talk sometime. I prefer to believe you didn't
mean to offend. Good luck to you.”