Well, in all fairness, it's not just men in kilts who get that.

I was returning from a faraway land through Chicago a couple of years back when the screeners told the woman in front of me that she had to take off her sweatshirt.

"This is all I have on," she replied.

He insisted, so she said it twice more, loudly, and when he insisted again, she told him to get his supervisor. They let me through while she was waiting, so I did not see the outcome, but the point is, it's not a bias against men in kilts.

What I think it IS, is men and women who were hired to keep us safe, who have to face bureaucracy on the one side and surly travelers on the other side, who understandably have difficulty dealing with out-of-the-ordinary situations. Please give them a smile and a friendly word -- and the benefit of the doubt -- next time you go through the airport.