A transgender woman was held by airport security because her penis showed up as an anomaly on flight scanners.
Shadi Petosky said she felt humiliated after being subjected to a 40-minute pat down by security personnel, causing her to miss her flight.
The writer was pulled aside and inspected for explosive material after passing through the full body scanner for women at Orlando International Airport.
Her penis had flagged up as an anomaly on the scan – as mocked up in the tweet below.
https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/646386315341234178
https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/646053501055987713
Shadi was taken into an interview room where she told Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials she was transgender, explaining ‘That’s my penis’.
TSA staff then told her she needed to pass through the full body scanner as a male.
https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/646058164996173825
https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/646058488062476288
Shadi told The Daily News: ‘I’m embarrassed about it. It is just a coincidence that I got a pat down for my genitals, then I had the worst agent and then I tested positive for explosives.’
https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/646193236608974848
https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/646083005828714497
She said she had asked the security personnel if they were transgender trained, to which she was told: ‘I know what I am doing’.
https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/646366298818125825
By the time she was released she had missed her flight to Minneapolis.
The TSA responded to her complaint saying: ‘TSA takes all potential civil rights violations very seriously. We are looking into the situation now for further information.’
https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/646064796853473280
