Cal coach alleges questions about son were racially based

Cal women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb says she was asked to “prove” her son belonged to her before boarding a flight to Oakland on Sunday.

Gottlieb said a Southwest Airlines employee in Denver asked for a birth certificate and later a Facebook post to prove her 1-year-old son was hers. Gottlieb said she already had provided her son’s passport.

According to Gottlieb, the Southwest employee said her questions stemmed from the fact that Gottlieb’s son, Jordan Peter Martin, has a different last name.

“My guess is because he has a different skin color,” Gottlieb said in a tweet Sunday night. She is white. Her fiance, Patrick Martin, is black.

“We have reached out to Ms. Gottlieb directly to address her concerns and will utilize the situation as a coaching opportunity for our Employee,” Southwest said in a statement. “We apologize if our interaction made this family uncomfortable — that is never our intention.”

Gottlieb said Tuesday that the encounter was hurtful, but she appreciates Southwest’s apology.

“I felt that in this situation it was my responsibility to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t OK,’ ” Gottlieb said in a statement to the Associated Press. “I hope the coverage this has received can serve as a learning opportunity and that all families — regardless of how ‘traditional’ they may or may not look — are treated with dignity and respect.”