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 am being held by the TSA in Orlando because of an "anomaly" (my penis)
— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015“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.’”
The TSA has left me in a room alone. There is an officer holding the door. pic.twitter.com/aFA0cQxAGx
— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015Told 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.”
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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.
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“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.”
In a statement, the Transportation Security Administration said it takes “all potential civil rights violations very seriously. We are looking into the situation now for further information.”
American Airlines said that it was working to rebook Petosky, a comics author, digital content producer and co-founder of Puny Entertainment, an interactive entertainment media studio. Her version of the airport events could not be independently confirmed by NBC News.
She says she never expected to be singled out:
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, 2015She finally made it through security but the incident left her with a sour taste.
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, 2015She said she was finally rebooked on another flight leaving out of Miami the next day.
At the gate! Have a sandwich. Have an unexpected day in Miami but I'll make that fun. @TSA trans bodies are not anomalies.
— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 22, 2015—NBC News’ Jay Blackman contributed to this article, which originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
James Eng
Erin Calabrese