Share

Woman’s Expulsion From Florida Airport Is Just One Example of Everyday Transphobia

In a series of Tweets on Monday afternoon, Petosky shared the traumatic endeavor she suffered through when simply trying to get to her gate for a flight. Have a sandwich. Have an unexpected day in Miami but I’ll make that fun.

Advertisement

“I am being held by the TSA in Orlando because of an “anomaly” (my penis)”, Shady Petosky tweeted. “We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that officers nationwide receive the necessary training they need to conduct their jobs respectfully and efficiently”.

“I thought they would know how to talk to transgender people if this ever happened”, she said. Transgender people, however, face their own airport battles, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.

According to her tweets, TSA personnel mistreated Petosky in just about every way that they could. For a transgender woman (scanned as a woman), her penis might appear as such.

TSA Spokesman Mike England told the Daily Mail Online: ‘Our officers are trained to properly screen members of the transgender community.

What followed was gruesome detail about how her experience being profiled, humiliated, and forced to miss her flight by airport security, all because she is transgender.

Petosky, the founder of the interactive media company Puny Entertainment, tweeted that she flies all the time and did not expect this.

TSA sent a statement to transgender activist Jenny Boylan, who recently appeared on an episode of “I Am Cait”, and acknowledged the agency’s awareness of Petosky’s plight.

Petosky declined to discuss the matter by phone, saying she was still struggling to make flight arrangements. “I am so dumb”.

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.

“If a whole class of people is being singled out for extra screening – if one culture has to expect extra screening – it is discriminatory”, she said. I like tons of people with my body.

As for Petosky’s claims, he said, the administration “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”.

Advertisement

‘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. “You may request private screening or to speak with a supervisor at any time during the screening process”.

Transgender woman says TSA detained, humiliated her over body 'anomaly'