Her Tweets Tell One Trans Woman's TSA Horror Story

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.

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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.

[twitter_embed https://twitter.com/SmartAssJen/statuses/646076873819058176 text="\u201cYes. People who bind their chests have as much trouble as trans women with "crotch anomalies". System is broke. @TSA https://t.co/Dg08mvAyUV\u201d" name="Jen Richards" screen_name="SmartAssJen" id="646076873819058176" created_ts=1442871704 iframe_id="twitter-embed-646076873819058176" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=273 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=321][twitter_embed https://twitter.com/SmartAssJen/statuses/646070894708658176 text="\u201cI too have been taken away, detained, invasively patted down because scanner showed an "anomaly", despite my explanation. Unacceptable @TSA\u201d" name="Jen Richards" screen_name="SmartAssJen" id="646070894708658176" created_ts=1442870200 iframe_id="twitter-embed-646070894708658176" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=385 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=453][twitter_embed https://twitter.com/SmartAssJen/statuses/413745248423407617 text="\u201cWell that was thoroughly mortifying. After three issues with the body scan they told me there was an "anomaly" in my groin.\u201d" name="Jen Richards" screen_name="SmartAssJen" id="413745248423407617" created_ts=1387479528 iframe_id="twitter-embed-413745248423407617" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=273 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=297]

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.