Social
Trans Woman Shares Her Embarrassing Moment Going Through Airport TSA
Suffered much anxiety after setting off the TSA alarm three times.
The acceptance of Trans people in today’s world is quite a struggling one but with a steady voice. This might be soon be conquered. One of the voices making the headline is TikToker and Model Rose Montoya, who recently shared her experience on how scanners at the Transport Security Admiration (TSA) give Trans people immense anxiety.
Model Rose Montoya claims scanners at the TSA give Trans people immense anxiety.
In a viral clip, which has viewed over 18 million, the Arizona-based, Hispanic, bisexual, and non-binary transgender woman who uses the pronouns she/her or they/them claim there’s a need to educate TSA about trans people and also a need to change how the scanner’s functions. “Can we talk about horrible it is to travel while being Trans sometimes?” The overlaid text on Rose clip reads.
Rose says there’s a need to educate TSA about trans people.
@rosalynnemontoya We need to change how the scanners function and educate TSA about trans people. ##tsa ##trans ##transgender ##transphobia ##transphobic ##travel
♬ original sound – Rose Montoya
She continued: “I always have immense anxiety leading up to go through security, and that means that I recognize the privilege of having all of my documents correct. So, the gender marker on my license, for example, says female. But going through the scanner, there’s a male scanner and a female scanner in the TSA checkpoint.”
Rose is an Arizona-based who identifies as a Hispanic, bisexual, and non-binary transgender woman.
“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 mental on your shorts, so let’s scan you again.”
Going through the scanner at TSA, Rose, unfortunately, set off the alarm three times.
Having gone through the scanner, Rose was unfortunately set off the alarm again. She said: “So, I was like look, I’m Trans. 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!”
Rose reveals she was uncomfortable about being misgendered and ignored during her TSA experience.
Speaking to BuzzFeed, Rose highlighted some of the challenges trans people face, including many states requiring trans people to have bottom surgery before changing their gender marker. But she claims Washington is luckily more trans-friendly than most states. While Rose is privileged to have identification documents that reflect her real name and gender, she went on to reveal how uncomfortable she was being misgendered and ignored during her TSA experience, adding that she had so much anxiety after setting off the TSA alarm three times.
“I felt dysphoric and disrespected but remembered how much worse this experience used to be.”
@rosalynnemontoya Reply to @dylanrzonca ##trans ##transgender ##nonbinary ##id ##license ##lgbt
♬ original sound – Rose Montoya
Rose reveals she tried making a joke to ease the discomfort, but no one laughed. “Afterwards, I took a deep breath, grabbed my things, and bought myself a cookie butter latte and a snack. I felt dysphoric and disrespected but remembered how much worse this experience used to be. I FaceTime my boyfriend, who listened to my story and calmed me down.” Rose explained.
During her early days of transition, Rose experienced much worse treatments in airports, including being sexually assaulted.
It turned out; this experience isn’t the only one Rose had faced amid traveling. During her early days of transition, Rose shared that she experienced much worse treatments in airports, including being asked invasive questions about her body to inappropriately being touched and sexually assaulted. However, in a clip shared to Instagram, she’s suggesting that the TSA machines should account for Trans and non-binary people and that agents should understand that misgendering and outing a Trans person, especially Black Trans women in public, could be potentially dangerous.
In a clip shared to Instagram, Rose suggests that the TSA machines should account for Trans and non-binary people.
Rose also discussed her privilege as someone who is cis-assuming or often mistaken for being cisgender. On the other hand, Rose’s experience has since sparked a debate online, people reacted with comments, and it has even prompted TSA Headquarters to want to have a conversation with her.
Rose’s experience has since sparked a debate online and has even prompted TSA Headquarters to have a conversation with her.
