A Virginia transportation security officer has accused the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of gender discrimination over a policy that prohibits transgender officers from conducting security checkpoints, according to a federal lawsuit.
The Transportation Security Administration, which operates under DHS, enacted the policy in February to comply with President Trump’s executive order declaring two permanent genders: male and female.
According to an internal document explaining the policy change, obtained by The Associated Press from four independent sources, including one current and two former TSA employees, “transgender personnel will no longer engage in patdown duties that are based on both the biological sex of the traveler and the officer. Additionally, transgender personnel will no longer serve as witnesses required by TSA if the traveler chooses to conduct a patdown in a private screening area.”
Until February, the TSA had assigned duties based on employees’ gender identity under a 2021 administrative directive. The agency told the AP it has rescinded its directive to comply with President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order.
Transgender personnel “remain eligible to perform all other security screening duties in accordance with their qualifications” and must participate in all required training, but they will not be allowed to demonstrate how to conduct a pat-down as part of the training or during other training, according to an internal document.
Danielle Mittereder, a transgender employee at Dulles International Airport, claims in a lawsuit filed Friday that a new policy that also prohibits her from using restrooms in TSA facilities that correspond to her gender identity violates civil rights law.
“Simply because she is transgender, TSA currently prohibits Plaintiff from performing the core functions of her job, prevents her from advancing to higher-level positions and professional certifications, excludes her from TSA-managed facilities, and subjects her identity to unwanted and unwarranted scrutiny on each workday,” the complaint states.
Mittereder declined to speak with The Associated Press, but her attorney, Jonathan Puth, called the TSA policy “deeply humiliating and 100% illegal.”
TSA spokesman Russell Reed declined to comment, citing pending litigation. However, he said the new policy directs that “male TSA officers conduct pat-down procedures for male passengers and female TSA officers conduct pat-down procedures for female passengers based on operational needs.”
The legal battle comes amid increasing reports of workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees during the second Trump administration. It also comes at a time when the TSA is already stretched thin due to the ongoing government shutdown and thousands of employees working without pay.
Other transgender police officers describe similar challenges to Mittereder.
Kai Regan worked at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas for six years, but left in July due in large part to new policies. Regan, who is not involved in the Virginia case, said she transitioned from female to male in 2021 and had been conducting pat-downs against men without issue until the policy change.
“I felt inadequate at my job, not because I was physically unable to do it, but because it was forced upon me,” the 61-year-old said. Because she feared she would be immediately fired because of her gender identity, she resigned earlier than planned rather than “wait for the bomb to drop.”
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, a legal group that has repeatedly challenged the second Trump administration in court, called the TSA’s policy “arbitrary and discriminatory,” adding, “There is no evidence or data that we are aware of that suggests that a person cannot satisfactorily perform their job as a TSA agent based on their gender identity.”
DHS has pushed back on claims by some legal experts that the policy is discriminatory.
“Does the Associated Press want female travelers to be policed by male TSA agents?” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a written response to a question from The Associated Press. “What a wasteful and fundamentally dangerous idea to put psychological delusions above the comfort and safety of American travelers.”
Sheldon H. Jacobson, an airport security expert and professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, whose research contributed to the design of TSA PreCheck, said matching employee gender to passenger gender is intended to minimize passenger discomfort during screening. Travelers can usually request another police officer if they wish, he added.
Determining where transgender police officers fit into this practice “creates some uncertainty,” Jacobson said. However, he said the new policy is unlikely to cause significant delays because transgender employees likely make up a small percentage of TSA employees.
“It may be a little inconvenient, but it won’t affect airport security operations,” Jacobson said.
According to internal documents, TSA’s policy for passengers is that they are screened based on appearance, as determined by staff. If a passenger corrects the officer’s assumptions, “travelers should be smacked down based on their declared gender.” The policy requires passengers who tell a police officer that they are neither male nor female to be advised that the search must be conducted by an officer of the same sex and to contact a supervisor if concerns persist.
The letter also states that transgender employees “will not be adversely affected” in pay, promotions, or bonuses, and that TSA is “committed to providing a work environment free of unlawful discrimination and retaliation.”
But the lawsuit argues otherwise, and the policy hampers Mittereder’s career prospects because “any path to promotion requires that she be able to perform pat-downs and train others to do so,” Puth said.
According to the complaint, Mittereder began his position in June 2024 and has never received any complaints regarding his performance, including his pat-down responsibilities. Supervisors gave her the highest performance review and “praised her professionalism, skills, knowledge, and relationships with co-workers and the public,” the complaint said.
“This is someone who is really passionate about their job and wants to have a career with TSA,” Puth said. “And while gender identity had never been an issue for her before, it suddenly became something she had to face every day.”
According to the complaint, Ms. Mittereder suffers from fear, anxiety and depression due to her inability to fully perform her job duties, as well as embarrassment and humiliation from being forced to reveal her gender identity to co-workers. It added that the ban would place an additional burden on the already overnumbered female police officers who have to take on the task of suppressing Mr. Mittereder.
Everett Kelly, national president of the American Federation of Public Employees, urged TSA leadership to reconsider the policy “in the best interest of our employees and the flying public.”
“This policy will not improve airport security and, in fact, could lead to delays in the screening of airline passengers, as it means fewer officers will be available to carry out enforcement checks,” Kelly said.
Savage writes for The Associated Press. Associated Press writer Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
