A bill making it easier for transgender people to get through airport screening has been introduced by Rep. Kathleen Rice D-N.Y., the Washington Examiner reports.
Democrats have been pushing the Transportation Security Administration for months to develop specific plans to accommodate transgender people. Their concern was sparked by a letter from a transgender woman, who was detained by the TSA after a misunderstanding about her gender, the Examiner notes.
Rice and other Democrats have called for a "thorough review" of the TSA screening process and how the agency uses its scanning machines. Democrats maintain the TSA equipment presently requires screeners to select "male" or "female" for each passenger who goes through.
The present system used by TSA agents is well-suited to screen those who are not transgender passengers, "but they do so at the expense of singling out transgender or gender nonconforming individuals whose physical appearances may not necessarily match their biological sex," Rice and other Democrats said in a letter to the TSA, according to the Examiner.
The Democrats are also pushing the TSA to increase training and to make certain it includes the "particular sensitivities and vulnerabilities of transgender travelers."
"We have heard from numerous members of the transgender community describing harassing and humiliating experiences while going through airport security," Democrats said in the TSA letter, according to The Hill.
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