TWIBS: Kristi Noem Sued by Trans TSA Officer

Nov 14

A trans TSA officer is suing head of DHS Kristi Noem over a policy that prevents the officer from doing her job just because she’s trans.

Humor by Aly Gibbs

This Week in Barrel Scraping (TWIBS) is Assigned Media’s longest running column! Every Friday, Aly Gibbs digs deep from the well of transphobia and finds the most obnoxious, goofy thing transphobes have said or obsessed over during the week and tears it to shreds.

I absolutely love when my job reporting on transphobia directly intersects with my passionate hobby of despising specific people to a degree that my greatest haters have described as unhealthy, toxic, and downright weird.

Thanks to a Tuesday article by The Independent, we’ve learned that a transgender TSA officer, Danielle Mittereder, has filed suit against former governor of South Dakota and current head of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem.

I think it’s fair to say that I hate every single member of the current Executive regime. Frankly, anybody who doesn’t is deeply suspicious. I can forgive you for finding Trump 1 toadies like The Moochster amusing. Heck, who amongst us wasn’t positively wheezing at Big Rudy G’s melting hair line?

But it must be said, unequivocally, that absolutely nobody in Trump 2’s cabinet is any fun at all. They are, in fact, horrible ghouls to a man. My ire with Noem in particular is both long and storied, but the highlights are: Kristi Noem enjoys murdering puppies; heads a domestic terrorist organization that’s criminally kidnapping innocent Americans (and non-Americans); and is so blatantly anti-indigenous and racist that she was, for a time, banned from entering over 12% of the state she governed.

Suffice it to say, I hate this bitch! So it brings me great joy to see a trans woman sue Noem’s pants off, of course.

Mittereder’s complaints are many, but arise from a single problem: She is transgender, and Trump’s Executive Order 14168 declared that the United States government would no longer acknowledge transgender people. As a result, the TSA has amended its rules regarding patdowns, which initially stated that an officer “of the same gender must conduct a full-body pat-down of the passenger in order to clear them to go through the checkpoint,” to instead outright ban trans TSA officers from performing patdowns.

This has created incredible friction in Mittereder’s professional life. Initially out as trans to only two of her superiors, she has since had to repeatedly out herself to coworkers and strangers to explain why she can’t perform patdowns. Furthermore, as a “limited duty” officer, Mittereder is ineligible for shift swaps and overtime, and cannot use the women’s locker room at work.

“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 lawsuit says. “[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.”

Truthfully, I have a lot of beef with the TSA. Transgender passengers have been harassed by TSA officers for years, and in past internal investigations, the organization hasn’t done a particularly good job at keeping travelers safe to begin with. I’m not convinced that the organization should even exist, but as long as it does, its employees should be treated equitably and fairly. The humiliation and harassment Mittereder has received for simply being transgender is disgusting and inexcusable.

Here’s hoping for a swift and decisive legal defeat that makes Kristi Noem cry and scream a whole bunch.

Aly Gibbs (She/They) is a trans writer who reports on news important to the queer community.