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Woman's airport scanner experience highlights the importance of transgender training

Rose Montoya/TikTok

Rose Montoya was flying from Phoenix to Los Angeles when she passed through the TSA screeners, as all air travelers are required to do. However, her security screening experience was problematic in ways that people who aren't transgender might not ever think about.

Montoya's video about her experience on TikTok has drawn millions of views, as she explains the issues she runs into with TSA scanners and agents who don't have the experience or training to process transgender people's security screenings in a respectful, appropriate manner.

"Going through the scanner, there's a male scanner and a female scanner in the TSA checkpoint," she said. "And, looking at me, you know, I look like a woman and I am a woman. So, that's great. I love having systemic privilege when I feel unsafe, which is in an airport. But, going through the scanner, I always have an 'anomaly' between my legs that sets off the alarm. And so she (the TSA attendant) asked me if I had anything in my pants and I told her 'no' and she's like, 'Well, maybe it's just like the metal on your shorts, so let's scan you again.'"

The agent tried again, and again the alarm went off. "So, I was like look, I'm trans," she said. "Just pat me down. And her solution was, 'Do you want to be scanned as a man instead?' I didn't. But, I ended up doing it and then my boobs set off the scanner because, of course. So, I tried to make a joke out of it. I was like, 'Oh yeah, there's a lot of plastic in there! It's fine.' So then she was like, 'OK, well we have to pat you down. Do you want a man to do it?' I said, 'NO! Absolutely not.'"

Montoya explained to Buzzfeed that agents have to make a visual judgment of whether a passenger is male or female before they enter the scanner, which can cause issues for transgender people, especially when a person isn't fully surgically transitioned or is non-binary.

"The scanners at TSA checkpoints are made with only two settings, forcing the TSA agents to make a split-second decision on whether to scan travelers as male or female."

ProPublica did an investigative report on TSA scanners and how screenings impact transgender passengers in 2019, which revealed that the issues Montoya describes are not new. The binary nature of TSA scanners has been a problem for transgender people since they were implemented in 2010, but they aren't the only issue. TSA policy is that patdowns happen by agents that match the presenting gender of a transgender person, but as Montoya's story shows, implementation of policy isn't always consistent. Some transgender people have reported having to strip down and show their genitals to TSA agents, which is invasive, humiliating, and anxiety-producing.

According to the TSA representatives ProPublica spoke to, agents aren't supposed to ask people to—or even let people—take off their clothes to reveal private body parts. However, Peter Neffenger, who served as TSA administrator for the last 18 months of the Obama administration, told ProPublica that he wouldn't be surprised if it happened. The TSA is a huge organization and turnover is quite high, he said, so keeping people trained properly presents a challenge.

Neffenger also understood the anxiety the gendered scanners brought on.

"As many in the transgender community explained to me, it's one of the most stressful parts of the screening process for them," he said.

It's not unusual for transgender people to be treated with disdain or disgust, to be asked disrespectful questions, or to be touched inappropriately. When such treatment happens in public and comes from the hands of officials who have control over whether or not you're allowed to get on an airplane, it can be particularly traumatic. One transgender man ProPublica spoke to said his experience—in which two male TSA agents had him remove his binder and lifted each of his breasts with their hands—kept him from flying for five years. After a transgender woman was refused a patdown by female agents, two male agents took her to a private room and had her take off her leggings to show her genitals. And the screening took so long she missed her flight.

The TSA began a training program for helping transgender passengers through the screening process in February of 2019, but ProPublica wasn't able to review it. And again, training 65,000 employees, some of whom are undoubtedly undereducated and underexposed to transgender people in their own lives, is a challenge. Something definitely needs to change, though, if transgender people can't go through the airport security process without feeling anxious due to how their bodies are going to be processed.

Montoya tried to look at the bright side of her Phoenix airport encounter, pointing out that she at least had paperwork that showed her gender and name correctly and how traveling as a transgender person used to be even worse.

"Afterwards, I took a deep breath, grabbed my things and bought myself a cookie butter latte and a snack," she told Buzzfeed. "I felt dysphoric and disrespected, but remembered how much worse this experience used to be. I FaceTimed my boyfriend, who listened to my story and calmed me down."

She also said that she'd been approached by representatives from the TSA asking how they can do better, and she's scheduled to meet with them today.

Here's hoping some progress comes from Montoya's viral story and that all people, regardless of gender, can travel without unnecessary embarrassment or hardship.

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Airline creates a clever human experiment to bring lonely travelers together for the holidays

via KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Travelling during the holiday season can be a hectic experience. Airports are busy, people tend to be bogged down by extra extra luggage filled with gifts, and the weather is terrible so flight delays are common.

People can be stuck for hours in a terminal waiting for their flights, many of them alone as they travel to see family or make an end-of-the-year-business trip.

So, being in the airport can be an isolating experience even though it's a great place to meet people you never would have otherwise.

One of the greatest joys of travelling is having a beer at the airport bar with someone from far away whose in the middle of an exciting journey. People tend to get a little extra liquored up in airport bars because they don't have to drive anytime soon and it makes it easier to sleep on the plane.

"Airports generally aren't the cosiest places on the planet. Which is strange, because they do have all the right ingredients: people, food, drink, lots of different cultures," KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' blog reads.

"But most people prefer to zone out at airports. The put on their headphones, focus on their phone or laptop, or read a book," the blog continued.

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So three years ago, KLM came up with a genius way to get lonely travelers together during the holiday season.

The airport placed a dinner table with a full holiday dinner for 20 15 feet above the ground. Every time a person sat down in a stool the table lowered a foot or so closer to the floor.

Every time someone stood out of their stool, the table raised higher off the ground.

So those who were eager to sample the holiday meal were forced to find strangers to sit down at the table with them.

After twenty people from places far and wide finally sat down at the table it was at the perfect hiehght to dig in to a bountiful feast.

"They sang songs and raised their glasses to life," KLM's blog read. "The dinner was everything we hoped it would be and we sincerely hope we managed to convey the spirit of Christmas to everyone who joined us at the table."

via KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Although KLM's human experiment was clearly done for marketing purposes it still makes a few beautiful truths.

Something magical happens when we all put down our phones and open up to those around us. Powerful things can hppen when we set aside our differences, set down our phones, and break bread with some strangers.

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A Muslim girl was asked to remove her hijab at an airport. Now a Muslim advocacy group is taking action.

KPIX

Many Muslim women wear a headscarf known as hijab in public as part of their religion. Unfortunately, they're more likely to face religious discrimination because if it. 69% of women who wore hijab reported at least one incident of discrimination, compared to 29% of women who didn't. Girls who wear hijab in school will be bullied because of it, with 29% reporting they experienced "offensive touching or pulling" of the item.

Women are supposed to be allowed to keep on their hijab while going through airport security, but this doesn't always happen. Fatima Abdelrahman was asked to remove her hijab while traveling to Canada for an international squash tournament in Toronto. This was the first time Fatima, who was 12-years-old at the time, flew without her family.

When Abdelrahman was waiting for her flight, a male Air Canada agent told her to remove the hijab because she wasn't wearing one in her passport photo. Abdelrahman asked why she had to take off her hijab when she had already cleared security. "He was just like, 'You have to take it off.' He didn't really address the question," Abdelrahman's sister told the Huffington Post. "Obviously she wasn't going to take it off in front of him so they … took her to a corner. It wasn't right in public but it also wasn't in a closed room."

RELATED: 8 Iranian women want you to know what it really means to not wear the hijab

Abdelrahman complied. She was scared about missing her flight and didn't want to delay her team. When her hijab was off, the official glanced at Abdelrahman's hair without comparing it to the passport photo. Abdelrahman was not asked to remove her hijab on her return trip to California.

Abdelrahman says she's used to airport screening taking longer than normal because of her hijab, she had never experienced anything like this before. "Taking it off isn't just like taking off a sock or taking off whatever — it's almost like taking off a limb," Abdelrahman told KPIX. "It's a big deal to me. It's part of my Muslim identity and who I am as a person. So when someone tells me to casually take it off and hurry up, it's degrading."

Air Canada corresponded with the family via email, saying they "must comply with Canadian laws and regulations which require us to compare a passenger's entire face with the photograph shown on the travel document used prior to boarding the aircraft."

RELATED: Muslim woman confronted anti-Islamic protesters "with love and a smile"

Now, the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) is taking action. The organization filed a complaint, asking for the airline to make policy changes in order to prevent employees from discriminating or harassing people. They also want Air Canada's employees to go through cultural competency training, as well as a formal apology and monetary damages for Abdelrahman.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority told the Huffington Post it doesn't "require airlines to screen passengers." Nor do they require passengers to take off head coverings during screening processes.

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Many airports in America have their own chapels. One question: Why?

If you're traveling in the U.S. in 2018, there's likely a chapel tucked away in at least one of the airports you pass through.

According to my research, 16 of the country’s 20 largest airports have chapels, worship spaces, or meditation rooms, as do many more around the world. But very few people notice, or even know, they're there — or why.

My interest in airport chapels started as simple curiosity: Why do airports have chapels? Who uses them? But after visiting a few, I realized that they tell a much more interesting story about religion in America and how it's evolved over time.

[rebelmouse-image 19533569 dam="1" original_size="3053x1565" caption="Photo by brownpau/Flickr." expand=1]Photo by brownpau/Flickr.

How did airports come to have chapels, anyway?

The country’s first airport chapels were intended for staff, not passengers. They were established by Catholic leaders in the 1950s and 1960s to make sure their parishioners who were pilots, flight attendants, and airport staff could attend mass.

The first one in the U.S., Our Lady of the Airways, was built by Boston Archbishop Richard J. Cushing at Logan Airport, and it was explicitly meant for people working at the airport. A neon light pointed to the chapel and souvenir cards handed out at the dedication read:

[rebelmouse-image 19533570 dam="1" original_size="800x450" caption="Our Lady of the Airways at Boston Logan International Airport. Photo by TUFKAAP/Wikimedia Commons." expand=1]Our Lady of the Airways at Boston Logan International Airport. Photo by TUFKAAP/Wikimedia Commons.

Our Lady of the Airways inspired the building of the country’s second airport chapel, Our Lady of the Skies, at what was then Idlewild — and is today John F. Kennedy — airport in New York City. And as the idea of the airport chapel caught on, other faiths followed suit.

The first was in New York — again at JFK. The Protestant facility was designed in the shape of a Latin cross and was joined by a Jewish synagogue in the 1960s. These chapels were located at a distance from the terminals — passengers wishing to visit them had to go outside. They were later razed and rebuilt in a different area of JFK.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Protestant chapels opened in Atlanta and in several terminals of the Dallas airport in Texas.

[rebelmouse-image 19533571 dam="1" original_size="640x425" caption="Orlando International Airport Chapel. Photo by brownpau/Flickr." expand=1]Orlando International Airport Chapel. Photo by brownpau/Flickr.

It wasn't until the '90s that airport chapels started to become more inclusive of multiple faiths.

By the 1990s and 2000s, single faith chapels had become a "dying breed." Most started to welcome people from all religions. And many were transformed into spaces for reflection or meditation for weary travelers.

The chapel at San Francisco International Airport, for example, known as the Berman Reflection Room for Jewish philanthropist Henry Berman (a former president of the San Francisco Airport Commission), looks like a quiet waiting room filled with plants and lines of connected chairs. A small enclosed space without any religious symbols or obvious connections to things religious or spiritual is available for services.

The scene at the Atlanta airport chapel is similar, with only a few chairs and clear glass entrances to provide space for quiet reflection.

[rebelmouse-image 19533573 dam="1" original_size="4592x2576" caption="Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta Airport chapel. Photo by brownpau/Flickr." expand=1]Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta Airport chapel. Photo by brownpau/Flickr.

But some airports retain indicators of their faith-based origins — like the one in JFK, which continues to hold its original "Our Lady" name.

Others include religious symbols and objects from a range of religious traditions. The chapel in Charlotte, North Carolina, for example, has multiple religious texts alongside prayer rugs, rosary beads, and artistically rendered quotes from the world’s major religions. Pamphlets on topics ranging from grief to forgiveness are available for visitors to take with them.

There's a uniformity in religion, but airport chapels operate by their own rules.

Each airport chapel has its own set of standards — but no two sets of rules are the same.

What is permissible in one city is often not in another. Often, local, historical, and demographic factors influence decisions. These could even be based on who started the chapel or how much interreligious cooperation there is in a city.

Certain airports, like Chicago’s O'Hare, have strict rules regarding impromptu religious gatherings, whether inside the chapel or out. Some use their public address systems to announce religious services. Others prohibit such announcements and do not even allow airport chaplains to put out any signs that could indicate a religious space.

[rebelmouse-image 19533574 dam="1" original_size="640x425" caption="Orlando International Airport Chapel. Photo by brownpau/Flickr." expand=1]Orlando International Airport Chapel. Photo by brownpau/Flickr.

Airport chapel culture has changed throughout time — and is bound to continue doing so.

Four of the largest American airports — Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York’s LaGuardia — currently do not have chapel spaces, although opening such a space is under consideration. In the interim, at LaGuardia, a Catholic chaplain holds mass in a conference room.

Each airport's chapel reveals something about its city. The variations within each space tell a story about local attitudes toward spirituality and travel and how those attitudes have changed over time.

On your travels, keep an eye out for these chapels. Note their similarities and differences and recognize how important local histories are to how matters of religion and spirituality are resolved — at airports and beyond.

This story originally appeared on The Conversation and is reprinted here with permission.

Crowds of people rushing to airports over the weekend weren't in a hurry to catch flights — they were making a mad dash for democracy.

Protesters at New York's JFK airport show what they think of the executive order. Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images.

In response to an executive order issued by President Trump that restricted travel from seven countries, thousands of people showed up at airports in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Boston, and other cities. They brought signs, demanded that those detained be let go, and cheered as people were released.

Not everyone was able to get to an airport, but that didn't stop them from getting involved from home.

While the American Civil Liberties Union was busy filing a suit against the Trump administration arguing the executive order was unconstitutional, hundred of thousands of people were putting their money where their Twitter retweets were by making online donations to support the organization.

People with slightly more money to donate, like singer/songwriter Sia, venture capitalist and occasional "Shark Tank" shark Chris Sacca, and producer/director Judd Apatow offered to match donations made to the ACLU up to a certain amount, allowing people to double the impact of their donations simply by tweeting proof of their contributions.

In one weekend, the ACLU received significantly more money than it usually does in one year.

As reported in USA Today on Sunday evening, the ACLU received more than 350,000 online donations totaling over $24 million since Saturday morning. The wave of online donations just goes to show that there are more ways to protest than showing up in a physical location and holding a kick-ass sign (although that certainly helps).

A protester at JFK holds a simple, kick-ass sign. Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images.

In the past few weeks, millions have turned out at protests around the country, but the airport protests against the Muslim ban — and the ACLU successfully securing a temporary stay on it — were a good reminder that there are forms of protest available to people who can’t show up in person.

Your voice, your donation, and your presence matter. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not helping the cause if you can’t get to a physical location. Just do what you can with what you have, wherever you are.

The Trump administration's executive order barring citizens of seven predominately Muslim nations from entering the United States was met by a stunning wave of anger and mobilization across America.

As stories about green card holders being pulled off planes bound for the U.S., families with children being handcuffed, and an Iraqi translator who had served the U.S. military being detained in New York began to surface across social media, people moved quickly to make their voices heard. The backlash was led by ordinary citizens outraged at the order's apparent targeting of Muslims, lack of compassion for refugees, and impact on families who have lived in the United States for years.

1. A spontaneous protest erupted at JFK airport in New York City.

Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images.

Thousands of people stood outside JFK Terminal 4 in the bitter cold as travelers and taxi drivers drove by honking their support.

2. The protests quickly spread to airports around the country...

Demonstrators at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images.

Demonstrations broke out in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Raleigh, Portland, and elsewhere.

3. ...and onto the streets.

Protesters march in Seattle. Photo by Jason Redmond/Getty Images.

4. Lawyers turned out in force, working around the clock on behalf of the stranded travelers.

Immigration attorneys spent the weekend sitting on the floor working to challenge the order and free those who had been detained at customs.

Some were organized by immigrant rights groups, but many came on their own, brandishing signs offering "free legal help."

5. New York City cab drivers stopped picking people up from JFK in solidarity.

A defiant taxi workers union announced a last-minute work stoppage from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday night, in protest of the ban.

"Our 19,000-member strong union stands firmly opposed to Donald Trump's Muslim ban," the union's official statement read. "As an organization whose membership is largely Muslim, a workforce that's almost universally immigrant, and a working-class movement that is rooted in the defense of the oppressed, we say no to this inhumane and unconstitutional ban."

6. And after Uber tried to undercut the strike, a movement sprung up to urge people to delete the app.

Whether intentional or not, the ride-sharing company dropped its surge pricing on trips from JFK just as the strike was kicking off.

In response, hundreds took to Twitter to shame the company and announce they'd be dropping the service from their phones.

The company's CEO later issued a statement, pledging financial support to its drivers stranded overseas and urging the Trump administration to allow U.S. residents to return home.

7. Veterans raced to the airport rallies to support their Iraqi comrades.

After hearing that an Iraqi interpreter had been stopped at the border, Jeffrey Buchalter, who was injured in Iraq, drove two hours from his home in Maryland to protest for the first time in his life.

"This is not what we fought for, having been in Iraq and working with these interpreters..." Buchalter told the L.A. Times. "Knowing their culture and how they view America, for me, it was a way to send a message to them: What they believe America was, it is. It's the greatest place in the world.”

8. Google co-founder Sergey Brin quietly joined the protests.

Brin, whose family fled the Soviet Union in 1979, explained his presence at the SFO rally to a Forbes reporter saying, "I'm here because I'm a refugee."

9. The ACLU saw a massive influx of donations — and massive doesn't really even begin to describe it.

The American Civil Liberties Union led the legal charge against the order, declaring the ban unconstitutional and discriminatory. Between Friday and Sunday, the organization took in over $24 million — roughly six times its typical annual haul in donations.

10. And the ACLU's lawyers delivered a temporary victory against the ban late Saturday night.

The ACLU brought their case to a federal judge who issued a partial stay of the executive order, preventing the deportation of visa holders who had already landed in the U.S.

The stay was announced on Twitter by the ACLU's National Voting Rights project director.

And praised by director Anthony Romero as an assembled crowd cheered him on.

11. Crowds cheered as families were released from airport detention centers.

12. Most importantly, ordinary people spent their weekend helping ordinary people.

That's what happened to Rutgers University fellow Mohsen Omrani, who tweeted his story from Newark airport.

By the end of the weekend, the protestors and resisters' efforts paid off — proving once again there is power in numbers.

In addition to the rulings in federal court — the New York ruling was soon joined by a similar, more expansive one in Boston in addition to rulings elsewhere, including Virginia and Washington state — the administration appeared to back off the most controversial portion of the order, allowing green card holders to enter.

For now, much of the executive order still stands, as the challenge moves its way through the courts. But with the victories in court and on the streets, thousands of regular Americans sent a clear message to its new president: If you want to close our country's doors, you have to come through us.

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The sky is about to get quieter, thanks to these innovations in air travel.

True

If you live near an airport or have driven by one, you may have noticed something: Planes are pretty loud.

That's gotta get old. Image via iStock.

There are 87,000 flights in the sky on any given day in the United States. That's a lot of air travel. What does that mean for the people on the ground looking up?

For the millions of people who live in communities surrounding airports, plane noise from takeoff and landing is part of their everyday life.

It's a constant noise that can be frustrating and take a toll on the mind and body.

According to a study in the NIH's Environmental Health Perspectives journal, the impact of noise exposure goes beyond hearing impairment and can also negatively affect blood pressure, stress levels, and sleep.

Noise isn't the only concern with all the air traffic. The environment feels it, too.

Similar to other transportation vehicles, airplanes release many pollutants into the air. With the industry's growth in size comes more noise and pollution.

Air traffic worldwide. GIF via pinyponsi_cgr/YouTube.

This may seem like it only affects people living near airports, but with air travel demand expected to double in the next 20 years, the demand for flights and airports to host them is only going to increase.

For many people, traveling less isn't an option. So innovators have come up with some more realistic solutions for the environmental and noise pollution problems.

What about a plane that's 100% powered by solar energy?

Solar Impulse 2, changing the aviation game. Image via Steve Jurvetson/Flickr.

There's one out there now! It's called the Solar Impulse 2, and instead of using jet fuel, it generates electricity from the solar panels on its 236-foot wingspan. Incredible.

It's going to be a while before any of us step foot on a plane operated in this capacity, but the fact that clean energy is part of the conversation — and is working — is huge.

Or, for instance, a plane engine that's 75% quieter.

PurePower Geared TurboFan Engine. Image by Pratt & Whitney, used with permission.

The company, Pratt & Whitney, has spent the last two decades developing a new engine for airplanes called the PurePower Geared Turbofan engine, which entered into commercial service January 2016. Their goal was to make an engine that is quieter and more sustainable for the Earth, and so far they’re delivering.

Their new engine reduces the plane's noise footprint by 75%, which means a whopping 500,000 fewer people can hear the aircraft taking off compared to a typical plane without it.

That's a lot of lives no longer interrupted by the sound of a plane overhead. And because of that, airports could potentially extend runway hours to allow for more service.

Technologies for better air traffic control make airplanes way more efficient.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been working on modernizing the nation's air traffic control system through what it calls NextGen. Instead of relying on old-school radar-based tracking for air traffic control, the NextGen technology uses more satellite procedures.

According to The Dallas Morning News:

The coalition ASCENT is all about reducing the environmental impact of aviation.

The group, made up of 16 leading U.S. research universities and over 60 private-sector stakeholders, is figuring out how to reduce noise, improve air quality, and reduce the climate impact of aviation today.

Through research, ASCENT (the Aviation Sustainability Center) is rethinking the technology, operations, planning, and sustainability within the industry. It's quite a big job.

There is no one single solution to overcome the noise and environmental impact of the planes in our sky.

But it is encouraging to see how much more we know now, and how companies are realizing that more sustainable and greener operations aren't just good for the world, but good for their bottom line.

Flights are cheaper and more accessible than ever before. We should be able to fly to our destinations without harming the Earth — and the people in our path.

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