From The National Center for Transgender Equality
Washington, D.C. — The National Center for Transgender Equality, Lambda Legal, and the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBT & HIV Project, denounce the Transportation Security Administration ( TSA )'s decision to codify its use of full body scanners in a final rule. Ordered to review the program by a federal appeals court five years ago, TSA said yesterday that it will make no changes in airport security and denied there is any impact on travelers' privacy.
The move comes months after the TSA's head was ousted following an audit in which scanners and pat-downs failed to catch weapons or mock explosives in 95 percent of "secret shopper" tests. In recent months, TSA has admitted that the scanners routinely trigger alarms based solely on transgender people's body parts, leading to widely-publicized incidents where travelers were forced to discuss their genitalia with TSA officers.
LGBT organizations have heard from hundreds of transgender travelers in the US who were asked to lift or remove clothing to reveal undergarments or prosthetics, required to undergo multiple pat-downs and questions about their bodies, and even prevented from boarding flights because of a "groin alarm."
"It is completely unacceptable to require Americans to discuss their genitals with uniformed government officials in order to travel by air," said NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling. "But that's exactly what the body scanner program means for many transgender people. TSA has ignored the public's very real concerns about the efficacy and the real harms of this technology. TSA is spending billions on security theater that seems to do little but erode all travelers' privacy and dignity."
Introduced in 2008, a federal appeals court declared the TSA's use of the machines unlawful in 2011 because the agency acted without formal rules or public comment on a matter affecting tens of millions of people. The court allowed the program to continue in part because TSA promised travelers could always opt for a thorough pat-down instead—a position the agency reversed in December. Despite numerous court petitions by organizations including NCTE, and comments from thousands of air travelers, TSA took five more years to adopt this court-ordered rule, which makes no changes in the current program.
"We urge President Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to take action to finally restore balance to airport security," said NCTE Policy Director Harper Jean Tobin. "Today's system exacts a high cost in dollars and personal privacy, with no proof that it is working. These scanners can't even tell the difference between a bomb and a traveler's own body. The American people deserve better."
LGBT and privacy organizations have consistently urged TSA to reconsider its approach to security, limiting use of body scanners and pat-downs and making more use of metal detectors and explosive trace detection. Advocates also urged TSA to codify its current promises regarding passenger rights into the rule, which the agency also refused to do. Still, TSA declined to make any changes in the current program.
From The National LGBTQ Task Force:
WASHINGTON, DC, March 4, 2016—The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced a final rule that codifies discrimination against transgender people. The rule implements the widespread use of body-scan technology which requires a TSA agent to choose a pink or blue button based on the perceived gender of the person traveling through U.S. airports. Transgender people, as a result of the policy's gender bias, are stopped by TSA agents and forced to undergo pat downs and inspections of genital areas and chests.
"Transgender people are regularly harassed and humiliated by current screening procedures, which treats transgender people's bodies as 'alarms' and thus subjecting them to physical and emotional mistreatment. Current policies create a situation where transgender people are dehumanized and placed in harm's way by constantly outing them and forcing them to disclose their personal lives with TSA agents in front of everyone in order to travel by airplane," said Victoria Rodriguez-Roldan, Trans/Gender Non-Conforming Justice Project Director, National LGBTQ Task Force.
Last year, the National LGBTQ Task Force met with TSA's executive, Administrator Peter Neffinger, alongside coalition partners urging the agency to adopt non-discriminatory policies relating to transgender people. The Task Force has also called TSA's civil liberties office attention to known civil rights violations against transgender people.
"TSA needs to institute screening algorithms in their scanners that are universal instead of relying on stereotypical notions of what a person of one gender or another must look like. We will continue pushing TSA to implement policies that ensures the dignity, safety, and respect of each traveler, including transgender people," said Rodriguez-Roldan.
