A Transgender Had Issues Going Through Security At The Airport Because She Wouldn't Identify Herself As A Man

I am being held by the TSA in Orlando because of an "anomaly" (my penis)

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

TSA agent Bramlet told me to get back in the machine as a man or it was going to be a problem.

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

TSA agents are now saying their are explosives alarm from my hands and the officers gloves when she gave me a full body pat down.

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

I asked TSA agent Bramlet if he had any training in trans issues. He said "I know what I am doing"

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

I fly all the time and this has never happened. I really thought the TSA was good about trans issues. I am so dumb.

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

Cop asked me what sex I was. I told him I wasn't going to answer that question. I am complying but come on.

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

They're telling me they have to take my phone. I told them that I want to use this to keep a record of what is happening

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

I am through. It was about 40 minutes, 2 full body pat downs, fully disassembled luggage. I missed my flight. pic.twitter.com/wLTvP3md9W

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

NBC News- 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. 

Shadi Petosky, a writer and producer, tweeted about the ordeal over her anatomical "anomaly" as it happened, saying she missed her American Airlines flight on Monday due to the incident. 

"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?"


I am sure you have some kind of transgender policy. Do you have training in this?" Petosky recalled telling the agent. To which, he replied, "I know what I'm doing." 


Let me start off by telling a little story. Yesterday morning I was standing in line at Newark airport, waiting to go through security. I had gotten to the front and I was unloading my laptop, because, oh I don't know, that's what every idiot flying with a computer has had to do since 9/11? Anyway, I asked this TSA agent where the trays were because there were none in sight. She responded with a snarky, if not bitchy, "I told you that you didn't have to take anything out of your bag. I guess you just realllllly wanted to". Now it being 7AM on a Monday during football season, I responded with an equally sarcastic "Yup, totally wanted to take out all my fucking shit just to go through security. You're right". Now, if this were any other situation besides security at an airport I just may have been charged with a hate crime for putting this twat of an Asian woman in a sleeper hold and making her count the sheep that her uncle was inevitably going to put into my fried rice late last night. Alas, it wasn't, so I shut up, went through the metal detector, gathered my belongings, and went about my day. 

What's the point of this story? Well, the point of this story is that TSA agents don't just suck at dealing with transgenders, they suck at dealing with EVERYBODY. If identifying as a woman and having a penis is to be accepted in society, and I fully believe it should be, then this woman is just another average citizen that got inconvenienced at an airport. Welcome to our world hunny. It's a pain in the ass, but if you want to travel long distances in short amounts of time then it's necessary. Man, woman, transgender, it doesn't matter. Sometimes someone is going to go through your baggage. Sometimes someone is going to grab your junk. Sometimes someone is going to say something that you that might take offense to. What it comes down to is that when you go through security at an airport you are going to have to do some shit you don't want to do. It may be taking off your shoes when you aren't wearing socks, or it might be telling the TSA agent to run you as a man when you identify as a woman. Honestly, if all you have to do is subtly whisper that you are a man before getting scanned then you're probably doing better than 90% of bearded Muslim fellas trying to get to their next destination. Save me the sob story that you didn't want passerbys to know you have a penis, because you just willingly broadcasted that fact to all of Twitter through a series of about 42 tweets. In closing, transgenders should be open to all the experiences that the traditional 'man' and traditional 'woman' are, and when it comes to airports that experience is going to suck, nearly every single time. 

P.S. If you got caught up for 40 minutes at security and that caused you to miss your flight then you clearly didn't give yourself enough time at the airport. That's not some close minded TSA moron's fault, it is your own.