Transgender Passenger Claims TSA Screening Process Humiliation
[guest post by Dana]
With a recent report released by Homeland Security revealing that TSA agents failed 67 out of 70 tests, thus allowing agents posing as passengers to walk through checkpoints with potential weapons, it’s surprising that TSA employees were able to spot an anomaly on a transgender passenger. But they did:
A transgender woman said she was detained and harassed at an Orlando, Fla., airport security checkpoint Monday by Transportation Safety Administration agents after a body scanner detected an “anomaly” on her.
Shadi Petosky, who runs a Los Angeles interactive entertainment studio, said she was trying to fly out of Orlando International Airport but was stopped after entering the scanner.
In her tweets about the situation, Petosky said that TSA agents calibrated the scanner for a woman, and the machine flagged an anomaly — “my penis.”
In her tweets about the situation, Petosky said that TSA agents calibrated the scanner for a woman, and the machine flagged an anomaly — “my penis.”
She said she “disclosed [her] reality immediately,” but the situation quickly escalated: Over the course of 40 minutes, Petosky said, officials patted her down twice, “fully disassembled” her luggage and put her in an empty room with an officer holding the door.
At one point, she said, an agent told her to “get back in the machine as a man or it was going to be a problem.”
TSA officials defended their agents, saying that they followed protocol for the situation. Further, according to the Transportation Security Administration website, there are accommodations provided for transgendered persons going through security screenings:
Transgender persons should use the name and gender that appears on their government-issued ID when making flight reservations and at the security checkpoint. You may ask that carry-on bags be screened in private if a bag must be opened by a TSA officer to resolve an alarm. Screening can be conducted in a private screening area with a witness or companion. You may request private screening or to speak with a supervisor at any time during the screening process.
Petosky did not request a private screening.
And then there is this:
Petosky said on Twitter that she hopes her story is used to change how transgender people are treated — regardless of their appearance.
For example, she said a TSA officer who helped smooth over the situation “told me I looked like a woman to him. Which I am sure he meant as a compliment, but what if I didn’t?”
And so it goes…
–Dana
Good morning.
Dana (86e864) — 9/24/2015 @ 6:18 ameven if trannies hadn’t already had their 15 minutes c’mon
they should make a special effort to lay low during halloween season
that’s just smart branding
happyfeet (831175) — 9/24/2015 @ 6:25 amToo bad she didn’t have a weapon so she could just walk through.
I often wonder why I have to stand in line for 45 minutes at immigration to show my passport when anyone or everyone could walk through our southern border.
Passports like tsa have become useless.
Jim (defd88) — 9/24/2015 @ 6:35 amI have no sympathy for body mutilators, whether they do it to others or to themselves.
John Hitchcock (e5f961) — 9/24/2015 @ 6:37 ami feel bad for them cause of they’re not right in the head
and a lot of them, they mortgage their whole future to this mental illness
then they kill themselves like kurt cobain
happyfeet (831175) — 9/24/2015 @ 6:44 amWhat’s the big deal? A man dressed like a woman confused the screening system. Just because he is delusional, doesn’t confer any privileges.
Bar Sinister (c62a89) — 9/24/2015 @ 6:50 amJesus said:
Those are not the words of a delicate wilting flower like someone here suggests He is. Those are the words of an angry warrior.
John Hitchcock (e5f961) — 9/24/2015 @ 6:56 am“…interactive entertainment studio…”
This something that gets better and better the more one contemplates the idea…
Gramps, the original (bc022b) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:03 amIts a metaphor for the yuge deductible increases.
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:07 amhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/09/22/health-plan-deductibles-are-growing-seven-times-as-fast-as-wages/
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:15 amDid Rich Lowrey really say that Fiorina cut Trump’s balls off at the last debate? Yes, yes he did and he said it on Megyn Kelley’s show
Colonel Haiku (4428ea) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:18 amI hate WaPo links. They always torq my browser. 🙁
John Hitchcock (e5f961) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:18 amI know ‘the hovercraft is full of eels’ among other things,
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:22 amNarciso, I like your approach:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6D1YI-41ao
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:25 amHa, ha, ha, ha!
nk (dbc370) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:29 amI fight reality, reality always wins
I should have an operation cause
that thing’s still swinging
I fight reality, reality always wins
you need a sense of the absurd, Simon,
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:29 amso what we end up is a version of the vicar’s ‘never pay insurance’
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:34 amOh, I get absurd, narciso. You and nk will appreciate this. I have a very smart and nice young woman in one of my classes (she really is funny and brilliant and nice) who dislikes gendered pronouns. So I am trying to be careful in my use of pronouns (welcome to university).
When I walked into class the other day, I heard this person talking to another woman, saying: “Ever see a photo of Stalin as a dude? He was hot.”
So yes, I get absurd.
The good news is that the class couldn’t process it either. This is yet another reason aliens don’t visit our planet. We are an odd, odd species.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:42 amwell they know we are ‘mostly harmless’ having been settled by a planet of middlemen, like telephone sanitizers,
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:43 amWhy are the calling him a she? He is a man dressed in women’s clothing.
Tanny O'Haley (c674c7) — 9/24/2015 @ 8:49 amJim (defd88) — 9/24/2015 @ 6:35 am
I often wonder why I have to stand in line for 45 minutes at immigration to show my passport when anyone or everyone could walk through our southern border.
If you think that’s a better, safer, more certain and more secure method of re-entering the United States, you could try that too. Be sure to take plenty of water and make sure you are in good shape and have a few days to spare.
The fact that using a passport is legal, and that you might get into trouble for trying that, is not the only reason for preferring the inspection method.
Sammy Finkelman (2972ba) — 9/24/2015 @ 9:07 amThis is a physical scanner, not a metaphorical one, and each person should identify as their (current) physical sex. But we won’t do that, or course. I expect to be asked “Penis or no penis” in the not too distant future, and never mind if some old CIS fogies are offended.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 9/24/2015 @ 9:24 amWhy are the calling him a she? He is a man dressed in women’s clothing.
I swear that one of these days I will go dressed as a superhero and demand that my Avengers ID is honored. That may sound delusional, but what isn’t these days?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 9/24/2015 @ 9:28 amThere is only male and female. Transgenderism (e.g. homosexual orientation) is a psychological condition that exhibits symptoms of progressive confusion. Its protected status is sought by by people (e.g. Feminists) and corporations (e.g. Abortion Industry/Planned Parenthood) that seek political cover for their own peculiar confusion.
n.n (30a50e) — 9/24/2015 @ 9:47 amDoes Bruce Jenner fly commercial?
David (099e1f) — 9/24/2015 @ 3:53 pmsometimes I think
he sold jets for a living for many years though so i bet he knows lots of people with private planes
happyfeet (831175) — 9/24/2015 @ 5:47 pmAlthough it seems like they ought to be able to roll with whatever their scanner shows. They can go to SFO for training if they need i.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:05 pmWhen TSA gets DNA scanners for on-the-spot DNA scans, the trannies will really be unhappy. Even the post ops will be… exposed.
Who you gonna believe, your eyes or the science?
Dan S (94f399) — 9/25/2015 @ 5:33 am