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Her Tweets Tell One Trans Woman's TSA Horror Story
Her Tweets Tell One Trans Woman's TSA Horror Story
A trans woman live-tweeted the shameful treatment she says she experienced at the hands of the Transportation Security Administration. But the TSA says its agents followed procedure.
UPDATE: The Human Rights Campaign is calling on the TSA for a "swift and thorough investigation," after the agency told The Advocate that it believes its agents followed "strict guidelines" based on "evidence" from surveillance cameras and "other information." Scroll down to read the full statement from the TSA.
When trans woman Shadi Petosky entered the security area of Orlando International Airport Monday, she also entered into a series of embarrassing and frightening interactions with agents from the Transportation Security Administration. Petosky, who was in Florida to celebrate her birthday with her mother, live-tweeted each disgraceful event as it happened.
And her troubles didn't end in the screening area but continued when she missed her flight home to Los Angeles because of her detention by the TSA.
What follows is her story, told through her tweets. The Advocate reached out to Petosky for comment, but she has not yet responded. We also reached out to the TSA, and you can scroll down to the end to read its updated statement in response to our inquiry.
\u201cIf others want to tell #travelingwhiletrans stories, let's use this hashtag to collect them so people know what's going on. Pls. re-tweet.\u201d— Meredith Talusan (@Meredith Talusan) 1442884165
\u201cFor starters, #travelingwhiletrans often involves needing to disclose as #trans to airport officials, which is none of their business.\u201d— Meredith Talusan (@Meredith Talusan) 1442885019
\u201cFor every story like @shadipetosky, there are are hundreds of #travelingwhiletrans stories of stress and microaggression whenever we travel.\u201d— Meredith Talusan (@Meredith Talusan) 1442885144
\u201cYes. People who bind their chests have as much trouble as trans women with "crotch anomalies". System is broke. @TSA https://t.co/Dg08mvAyUV\u201d— Jen Richards (@Jen Richards) 1442871704
\u201cBefore anyone says it's a security issue, I fly at lot and only got detained once. So it's inconsistent, which means poor training. @TSA\u201d— Jen Richards (@Jen Richards) 1442870200
\u201cI too have been taken away, detained, invasively patted down because scanner showed an "anomaly", despite my explanation. Unacceptable @TSA\u201d— Jen Richards (@Jen Richards) 1442870200
\u201cWell that was thoroughly mortifying. After three issues with the body scan they told me there was an "anomaly" in my groin.\u201d— Jen Richards (@Jen Richards) 1387479528
\u201cUsed to be @TSA asked u take your shoes off now I guess they want you to take your civil liberties off too! Wow my babies wow!\u201d— Tig Notaro (@Tig Notaro) 1442887969
Statement from the TSA's spokesman Mike England:
"Our officers are trained to properly screen members of the transgender community. TSA takes all potential civil rights violations very seriously and conducted a review of the incident. After examining closed circuit TV video and other available information, TSA has determined that the evidence shows our officers followed TSA's strict guidelines. Supervisory personnel and a Passenger Support Specialist participated in the screening to ensure guidelines were met."
Click here to learn more about HRC's call for a full investigation.
