Flight attendants have a long history in the union movement. They organized their first union as early as 1945. But, in an industry where they were up against all kinds of discrimination, it used to be that you'd rarely find a flight attendant who was not only a union activist but also Japanese-American, or male, or openly gay.

Today, there's Stan Kiino, who is proudly all of those. Things have changed.

On the job, he regularly works on United Airlines's busy San Francisco-Sydney route, which, at 14 hours, is one of the longest non-stop airline routes in the world.

In his off hours, Kiino puts considerable time and energy into his own local union, Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) Local 29011; the San Mateo County (Calif.) Central Labor Council, where he serves as an executive board member; and the AFL-CIO lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) constituency group, Pride At Work, where he is the national treasurer.

Kiino's career as a flight attendant has been anything but routine. He's volunteered to join crews who transported American dependents from Tehran in the midst of the Iranian revolution and who evacuated civilians from the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro to Nairobi, when their lives were threatened by an international border clash.

Kiino, a firm believer in union-community coalitions, has seen how they can work.

One of the most dramatic examples came when United attendants were negotiating a new contract and pressing for domestic partner benefits—but management wouldn't budge.

Then the community in San Francisco weighed in. Politicians like gay San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano and Mayor Willie Brown lined up in support of the flight attendants. Members of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, an influential LGBT group, organized a community boycott of United and engaged in civil disobedience to support the attendants. Chief Assistant City Attorney Dennis Aftergut went to court on their behalf to enforce a requirement that city contractors provide domestic partner benefits.

It worked. In the end, United management agreed to the domestic partner benefits.

For Kiino and other AFA-CWA members, the union is critical to day-to-day issues such as wages and work schedules. "We flight attendants live by our paychecks and schedules and working conditions," he says. But for Kiino, there's another reason for his union activism.

In his words, "Labor has helped me feel like part of this country. Before that, I felt marginalized on many levels. Unions are there to fight discrimination and ensure equal entitlement for workers everywhere.

"I'm confident to speak out because we're in an organization that supports us in standing up against what's wrong out there. It's something worth fighting for."