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Her Tweets Tell One Trans Woman's TSA Horror Story

Her Tweets Tell One Trans Woman's TSA Horror Story

SHADI PETOSKY

A trans woman live-tweeted the shameful treatment she says she experienced at the hands of the Transportation Security Administration. But the TSA says its agents followed procedure.

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Lifeafterdawn

UPDATE: The Human Rights Campaign is calling on the TSA for a "swift and thorough investigation," after the agency told The Advocate that it believes its agents followed "strict guidelines" based on "evidence" from surveillance cameras and "other information." Scroll down to read the full statement from the TSA.

When trans woman Shadi Petosky entered the security area of Orlando International Airport Monday, she also entered into a series of embarrassing and frightening interactions with agents from the Transportation Security Administration. Petosky, who was in Florida to celebrate her birthday with her mother, live-tweeted each disgraceful event as it happened.

And her troubles didn't end in the screening area but continued when she missed her flight home to Los Angeles because of her detention by the TSA.

What follows is her story, told through her tweets. The Advocate reached out to Petosky for comment, but she has not yet responded. We also reached out to the TSA, and you can scroll down to the end to read its updated statement in response to our inquiry.

Statement from the TSA's spokesman Mike England:

"Our officers are trained to properly screen members of the transgender community. TSA takes all potential civil rights violations very seriously and conducted a review of the incident. After examining closed circuit TV video and other available information, TSA has determined that the evidence shows our officers followed TSA's strict guidelines. Supervisory personnel and a Passenger Support Specialist participated in the screening to ensure guidelines were met."

Click here to learn more about HRC's call for a full investigation.

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