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security checks

A transgender woman made to miss flight after penis appears on body scanner

Shadi Petosky was on her way from Florida to Minneapolis.

Updated 18.10

A TRANSGENDER WOMAN has been made to endure a traumatic ordeal after her penis was flagged as an anomaly in a full-body scan.

Shadi Petosky was held for an extensive period because of this, making her miss her flight.

On her way to Minneapolis from Orlando International Airport, the writer and blogger was taken into a room and asked to explain the anomaly that had appeared in the full-body scan.

Tweet by @Shadi Petosky Shadi Petosky / Twitter Shadi Petosky / Twitter / Twitter

Petosky live tweeted the situation as it was unfolding, with the questioning coming from a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent.

When asked whether he had training in dealing with transgender issues, the agent she was dealing with responded, “I know what I am doing.”

Tweet by @Shadi Petosky Shadi Petosky / Twitter Shadi Petosky / Twitter / Twitter

The TSA has said that it is looking into the situation and that it “takes all potential civil rights violations very seriously”.

The organisation has guidelines on its website for transgender people to travel under the names they have listed on their identification and to request a private screening as they are passing through security.

Speaking to The Daily News, Petosky said, “Had I gotten there earlier, I may have made my flight, but I wouldn’t have cried less.”

Correction: This article originally incorrectly stated that Petosky had refused to go through the scanner on a changed setting.  

Tweet by @Shadi Petosky Shadi Petosky / Twitter Shadi Petosky / Twitter / Twitter

Read: This rapper has annoyed a lot of people with his comments about transgender people

Also: What does it mean to be gender fluid? In short, you shouldn’t presume to know

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