Shadi Petosky is a visual artist from Los Angeles who has worked on several graphic novels and animation projects—currently, she’s a member of Puny Entertainment, a Minneapolis and LA-based studio. Her work spans a multitude of pop art genres. There are a lot of great reasons for this multitalented artist to be famous, but this week, the reason she’s hit the news is a less pleasant one: She spent most of Monday being humiliated and abused by the TSA at the Orlando Airport, and she livetweeted her experience for a horrified audience of thousands, even as she noted her discomfort over what it would mean for her Google results.
Troubles at the TSA checkpoint are almost a quintessential USian experience for many, but some groups get singled out more than others. Many people of colour have reported civil rights violations including racial profiling, inappropriately detailed patdowns, and harassment by TSA staff. Religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Sikhs, have also experienced abuse in the airport.
And transgender people, especially transgender women, are repeatedly in the TSA’s crosshairs despite the fact that the government agency allegedly has an official policy on trans travelers, provides information to trans travelers, and may or may not provide specifically trans-sensitive training—the agency seems reluctant to discuss the latter issue, and many individual TSA agents report no experience with trans people or training in handling their needs from their employer.
Some trans people in the US have identification documents that do not appear to match their appearance, including documents with inaccurate names and gender markers, which they are forced to use due to security guidelines mandating that people use their legal name and gender on airline reservations. It can be expensive to pursue legal changes to name and gender markers on government documents (depending on the state, there may be surgical requirements for a gender marker change) and consequently, TSA agents may target trans people for the crime of carrying an ID that doesn’t look like them. Harassment can include calling women “sir” or shouting a feminised name at a man across a screening area despite his polite insistence that his name has changed.
The real trouble for trans people in US airports, though, emerges during security screenings. Baggage may be flagged for closer inspection if it contains dilators, needles and hormones, breast prostheses, packers, and other medically necessary devices used by transgender people. And if people wear prostheses through screening—as is their right, as the TSA itself states in its documentation for the trans community—they may be profiled. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
And for trans women, an ‘anomaly’ on a screening can trigger a humiliating incident that starts with a patdown and can end in tears.
Which is what happened to Petosky, who was on track for a flight before being flagged by TSA agent for an ‘anomaly’ and then subjected to a humiliating experience that didn’t just out her at the gate, frustrate her, and trigger dysphoria—it also made her late for her flight. She took to Twitter to document the experience, demanding that both the TSA and American Airlines, her air carrier, explain and rectify what was happening.
As the internet looked on, infuriated and horrified, Petosky documented an escalating series of events. Here’s a selection of her Tweets:
‘I am being held by the TSA in Orlando because of an “anomaly” (my penis)’
‘The TSA at the Orlando Airport told me I couldn’t take photos but this is denigrating. I have missed my flight’
‘TSA agent Bramlet told me to get back in the machine as a man or it was going to be a problem.’
‘There are now 2 police officers, 1 explosives specialist and four TSA agents. They’re taking my phone for screening’
‘A TSA agent is telling me to leave the airport. I asked them to please call a supervisor, I just want to get to an American Airlines gate’
‘They told me to get myself together, I am sobbing, not belligerent.’
‘American Airlines manager is telling me that ‘in the future ask for a private screening’’
‘I literally want to no lectures from American Airlines on how to travel while trans. I want the same privileges as cis people.’
‘I have to use the bathroom now but what are Florida’s laws now that everyone knows that I am a beautiful lady with an anomaly.’
Speaking out about what was happening could have endangered her, and in fact airport personnel attempted to have her removed by police, but responding officers refused to do so. Many travelers facing discrimination remain silent about it for fear of being booted from their flights, held up at security, or blacklisted: Like Petosky, they just want to get where they are going. Her decision to go loudly public was bold, and it made many cis people who weren’t aware of the problem sit up and pay attention.
In 2014, Al Jazeera documented widespread problems with the TSA’s handling of transgender travelers, who are often caught in a bind. If they go through scanning machines, they may be flagged for ‘anomalies’ because their bodies don’t fit within a narrow model of what men and women should look like—and the TSA is helpless when it comes to nonbinary travelers. If they opt out, on the other hand, the subsequent patdown may result in being flagged once more for an ‘anomaly,’ whether it’s a binder or a packer, or if someone is tucking.
A 2011 study found that 11 percent of trans respondents had been ‘denied equal treatment’ in airports, and 17 percent reported being harassed or disrespected. Petosky was caught in the trap of a growing security state that seems to believe it’s vital to protect cisgender people from the trans community.
Traveling while trans is dangerous for a host of reasons, from the risk of being turned out of bathrooms to being assaulted. The TSA’s response to its small piece of the danger pie is to suggest that transgender passengers call ahead to arrange an ‘escort’ to assist them through security, as though this is in any way a rational solution to systemic discrimination, and to recommend a private screening.
Transgender people face injustice and profiling at every turn, and demanding that they undergo a private screening is another example—trans bodies are bodies, transgender people are beautiful, and there’s no such thing as an ‘anomaly.’ TSA employees need to be trained in politely addressing any concerns they may have with travelers in a manner appropriate to a public setting, and it is not a passenger’s responsibility to out herself, answer humiliating questions, or be subjected to an invasive patdown to satisfy the curiousity of the TSA. The security agency’s unwillingness to educate its personnel about body diversity is a reminder that trans bodies aren’t considered part of the landscape in the US—they are abnormal. Cis people, after all, are not told that they should request private screenings if TSA personnel find ‘anomalies’ in their bodies.
Recommending that people call ahead to arrange an escort is particularly humiliating. The TSA offers escorts for disabled people and older adults who may need assistance getting through security, including more time or accommodation for medical devices, and this service is designed to make sure people don’t miss their flights. It’s appropriate for people who need it, but trans people don’t need it, because they, like everyone else, should be able to go through security screening without being singled out unless they pose an obvious threat: As, for example, if their luggage carries an explosive device.
Singling trans people out with a demand that their gender be treated as something that might require more time at the airport comes with a whiff of implication: Your gender is wrong, and the TSA needs more time to cope with its ‘anomalies.’
Petosky won’t be the last person to run up against transphobia from the TSA or an air carrier, something brought home repeatedly as both the TSA and American Airlines put a public face on the issue without speaking to her directly. And, as she learned, it’s not an experience that’s very unique—while she had known that it was an issue for some fliers, ‘I am finding out this is completely routine for so many trans people,’ she tweeted, as she was finally rebooked and settled at a gate on her way out of town.
The National Centre for Transgender Equality maintains resources for trans travelers in the US, including complaint information, phone apps, and recommendations to help travel go more smoothly.
Photo by Lenny DiFranza