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"I stepped into the full body scanner, the TSA agent looked at me and pressed the F button," Petosky said in an interview with NBC News via text message. "The scanner picked up an 'anomaly' in my crotch area."
"I said, 'I'm transgender. That's my penis,'" Petosky recalled. "The TSA officer then said something like, 'If you are a man, then go back in the machine and we'll run you as a man.'"
Told by the agent that she needed to be run as a man or a woman, Petosky said she replied, "I'm transgender. I am a woman, but I have an atrophied penis, trying to make it kind of not a big deal."
According to Petosky, the TSA officer replied, "If you don't want to be run as a man, we'll have to search you. Are you a man or a woman?"
Then he asked her whether she wanted a male or female agent to search her body.
"I kind of froze. I have never been flagged in the groin before and didn't want to make a female officer touch there, but didn't want a man to do the pat down," she said.
I sympathize with her, but then again this is airport security. If she HAS to be run through as either a male or female because the scanner knows what to look for for each gender and will pick up anomalies, then it seems simple to me. You still have a penis, by the machine you are considered a male. Black and white, yes, but airport security SHOULD be black and white. For all they know, that "anomaly" on that "woman" is a bomb. They're just trying to stop another plane from flying into a building or exploding, even though sometimes they seriously fail at their jobs.
Maybe she should have just let them run her through as a man. It didn't have to be a big scene, no one would have had to know, and she would have made her flight.
Oh geez... During pat downs, cops and security agents do pat our groin areas. If this man/woman/trans/w/e has a penis, then she/he needs to get a pat-down just like any man would. Shut up, comply, and understand why it is that they do this.
I don't want this to turn into an "attack transgenderism" thread. I want it to be a "transgendered people need to understand their unique situation and not cry about important issues like airport security" thread. I want it to be a discussion on the logistics of this circumstance, and a genuine look at who is really in the wrong and what should change. IMHO, she's wrong and nothing should change because you can't let your guard down with airport security.
Fact is, there are two genders and they are based off science, and the machine recognizes this. There is no button for a transgendered person, nor should there be. The machine only cares if you're carrying around illegal items, not if you have a penis or not. If you have a penis but identify as a woman, all the machine cares about is if you have that penis. Quietly tell the TSA agent you are a transgendered person, "I identify as a female but for the sake of the machine, please put me through as a male anyway as I have a penis and it will show up on the scanner." This is a reasonable request. If you are made fun of or it turns into a big scene, then that's a violation of one's rights, IMO. But only if the TSA agent acts inappropriately knowing that information. Otherwise, it seems logical to me to do that.
I was hoping for some new outrage today. Now I am sure the TSA will have to spend billions on transgender specific scanners. Now, color me old fashioned, but penis = man.
Just another confused dude wanting to play drama queen. Why was it necessary for him to tweet the entire experience as it unfolded other than to get attention?
Why in the hell is it so hard for some to figure out?? Simply. if you have a penis you are a male. If you have a vagina you are a female. Perhaps the TSA should hold an anatomy class for dummies before the search so that they know what to choose when at the search site. DAMN!!!
"A transgender woman says she was delayed by TSA workers at Orlando International Airport who thought her body parts didn't match her gender identity."
TSA workers THOUGHT her body parts didn't match her gender identity? Uh no, they just observed that the "she" had a penis. They didn't "think" anything.
Poor thing was delayed. All "she" had to do was agree to be scanned as a male. Until that pesky penis is removed it is a sacrifice "she" is going to have to make in order not to be delayed.
Exactly. While I generally despise the TSA dolts, this "person" is a freak and should expect others to be just as gender confused as they are as to what the heck "it" is...male or female.
I have zero sympathy for the..the...she/man. Public safety trumps her sensitivities and confusion about private parts. When she enters the device as a female, and the device notices something that doesn't belong, ....well, out she comes for a physical inspection! I don't care that she doesn't like it. Lives are at stake. That diva should be banned from all airports for six months.
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