By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Kristi Noem
The policy is “terribly demeaning and 100 percent illegal,” Danielle Mittereder's lawyer Jonathan Puth says.
A transgender Transportation Security Administration officer has sued the agency’s parent organization, the Department of Homeland Security, over a policy that prevents trans personnel from performing pat-downs of airline passengers or serving as witnesses for them.
Danielle Mittereder, a TSA officer at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., filed the lawsuit November 7 in a Virginia federal court, according to multiple media outlets. It names Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, well-known for her anti-trans views, as defendant.
Related: South Park eviscerates Kristi Noem for killing a puppy and abusing Botox
Mittereder joined the TSA in July 2024. Since 2021, trans officers had been allowed to perform work consistent with their gender identity, with trans women being able to pat down female passengers and trans men patting down male passengers. But in keeping with Donald Trump’s executive order recognizing only male and female sexes as assigned at birth, in February the TSA stopped letting trans officers do pat-downs.
“Transgender officers will no longer engage in pat-down duties, which are conducted based on both the traveler’s and officer’s biological sex,” says a TSA directive obtained by the Associated Press. “In addition, transgender officers will no longer serve as a TSA-required witness when a traveler elects to have a pat-down conducted in a private screening area.”
Trans officers also will not be allowed to practice pat-downs in training or demonstrate them to others being trained but “shall continue to be eligible to perform all other security screening functions consistent with their certifications,” according to the exclusionary policy.
Mittereder’s lawsuit says the policy discriminates against her based on her sex and gender identity, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In its 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, the U.S. Supreme Court found that Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination in employment encompasses discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Solely because she is transgender, TSA now prohibits Plaintiff from conducting core functions of her job, impedes her advancement to higher-level positions and specialized certifications, excludes her from TSA-controlled facilities, and subjects her identity to unwanted and undue scrutiny each workday,” the lawsuit says.
She was put on limited duty, which means she can’t trade shifts or work overtime, and at least one coworker said she was uncomfortable working with Mittereder because of her gender identity, the suit goes on. And performing pat-downs and training others in them is part of the requirement for promotion.
“The February 7 Directive requires [Mittereder] to ask for assistance each time her job duties would otherwise require her to perform pat-downs, thereby exposing her gender identity to co-workers, supervisors, and airline passengers,” it continues.
“As a result of Defendant’s discrimination, [Mittereder] suffered and continues to suffer anxiety, depression, fear, feelings of uncertainty, crying spells, grief, and low mood,” the complaint goes on. “[She] experienced and continues to experience anger, frustration, embarrassment, and humiliation as a result of Defendant’s decision to prohibit her from doing much of her job, single her out, and stigmatize her due to her gender identity.”
Mittereder has received the highest possible performance rating in her reviews, and her supervisors “have praised her professionalism, skills, knowledge, and rapport with fellow officers and the public,” the suit states.
The policy is “terribly demeaning and 100 percent illegal,” lawyer Jonathan Puth, who is representing Mittereder along with co-counsel Carla Brown, told the AP.
Puth further told The Independent that Mittereder is “good at her job, she wants to go to work and do her job every day. And she’s not allowed to do it, for the sole reason that she is transgender.”
Related: Trump administration kills $18.5 million in funding for diversity, LGBTQ+ support
Asked for comment by the AP, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin gave this response: “Does the AP want female travelers to be subjected to pat-downs by male TSA officers? What a useless and fundamentally dangerous idea, to prioritize mental delusion over the comfort and safety of American travelers.”
American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said the TSA should reconsider the policy. “This policy does nothing to improve airport security,” Kelley told the AP, “and in fact could lead to delays in the screening of airline passengers since it means there will be fewer officers available to perform pat-down searches.”
Charlie Kirk DID say stoning gay people was the 'perfect law' — and these other heinous quotes