Rule Are Rules…

But what happens when they don’t know or follow the rules?

The TSA rules say that we can request an officer of our gender identity but they do follow the rules.

When Transgender Travelers Walk Into Scanners, Invasive Searches Sometimes Wait on the Other Side
Transgender and gender nonconforming people say they have been pressured to expose their genitals during TSA searches at airports. The encounters stem from shortcomings in the agency’s technology and insufficient training of its staff.
ProPublica
By Lucas Waldron and Brenda Medina
August 26, 2019

[…]
TSA rules require that passengers be searched by officers of the same gender as they present. But, according to Olivia, the TSA supervisor told her that she would have to be patted down by a male officer.

The newspaper goes on to say,

To understand the extent of the problem, ProPublica reviewed publicly available complaint data from the TSA’s website and asked transgender travelers to provide accounts of their experiences at airport checkpoints.

The review, which covered civil rights complaints filed from January 2016 through April 2019, found that 5%, or 298 complaints, were related to screening of transgender people, even though they are estimated to make up slightly less than 1% of the population.

This may understate the proportion of complaints from transgender travelers. When Olivia contacted the TSA, her complaint was filed in a different category — a catchall classification called “sex/gender/gender identity - not transgender.” That category accounts for 15% of the civil rights complaints in the period examined by ProPublica, but the TSA said it did not have a more specific breakdown of these complaints and could not say how many were, like Olivia’s, related in some way to gender identity and screening. ProPublica filed a Freedom of Information Act request in April seeking information about each complaint in those categories, but the agency has not yet provided any response.

When ProPublica asked transgender and gender nonconforming people to tell us about their experiences, we received 174 responses, many of them recounting humiliating treatment after being flagged by full-body scanners for additional scrutiny. Of those people, only 14 said they filed a complaint with the TSA. Many of those who did not file complaints said they didn’t know how, were afraid of outing themselves or didn’t want to relive the experience.

Blame it on the equipment…

Since implementing the scanning technology, the agency has grappled with privacy and discrimination issues. Like the transgender and gender nonconforming communities, people with disabilities, people who wear religious head coverings and women of color, whose hairstyles trigger the body scanners to alarm more frequently, have raised concerns about profiling and invasive screening.

Lets face it… we are most likely the victims of biases and prejudices.

I know that I don’t want to fly anymore for two reasons, the first is the airlines pack you in like sardines and the second is the TSA

What about you?

survey service

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Update August 30, 2019

When I wrote about the problems of going through security at airports, I didn’t realize that the topic would be picked up on the campaign trail by Sen. Warren.

Elizabeth Warren condemns ‘dehumanising’ screenings of trans people at airports

Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has condemned the news that transgender people in the US are being subjected to invasive screenings at airports in order to travel.
Pink News UK
By Vic Parsons
August 29, 2019


A ProPublica investigation revealed that trans passengers are being forced to endure invasive searches by the Transport Security Administration (TSA) in the US.

“Trans and non-binary people shouldn’t have to face invasive and dehumanising screenings to travel,” Warren, 70, tweeted on August 27.

“We must do better – and I’ll keep working to ensure that every trans and non-binary American is able to live without fear or discrimination,” she added.

Warren, who is currently senator of Massachusetts, recently added her pronouns to her Twitter and campaign bios in what is being hailed as a show of solidarity with the trans community.

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A Democratic presidential candidate has a family member who is trans or gender non-conforming…

CORY BOOKER OPENS UP ABOUT TRANSGENDER FAMILY MEMBER: 'I DON'T HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS WHEN IT COMES TO TRANS YOUTH'
NEWSWEEK
BY DANIEL AVERY
8/21/19

[…]
Booker said it was his brother's child and New Jersey trans advocate Babs Siperstein—his "activist inspiration"—who taught him that America needed leaders who can say "I don't have all the answers when it comes to trans youth but I'm willing to elevate folks to let them sit as peers with me" to find solutions.

"I hope that one day very soon—let's call it maybe less than two years—that... my nie-phew and other great trans leaders in the youth community have a seat at the White House to talk about issues.
[…]
But Booker told Keisling [NCTE founder and executive director, Mara Keisling] it was important not just to stem the president's attacks but to move the needle forward for the approximately 1.4 million transgender Americans.

"The discrimination from insurance companies [and] discrimination from employers who want to use religious exceptions and deny people fundamental basic healthcare is unacceptable to me," he said. "It shows you how much further we have to go to stop the backsliding of this administration. But more importantly to advance and gained ground until we have equal health care access for all."

Fellow Senators—and White House hopefuls—Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) also made their pitch to trans voters and allies in the forum.

Gillibrand called coming out as trans "an act of courage"—and touted her support for comprehensive protections for LGBT Americans—including "banning conversion therapy, allowing an 'X' gender marker for... birth certificates [and] driver's licenses," and inclusive healthcare, safety and anti-discrimination measures.

Not only are trans candidates running and winning, trans people are becoming for better or worst a political issue.

Democrats for us… Republicans against us.
Democrats for inclusion… Republicans for exclusion