Trans TSA agent sues Kristi Noem for job discriminationhttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/11/trans-tsa-agent-sues-kristi-noem-for-job-discrimination/ 🔗Faefyx Collington (12 Nov 2025)
A trans Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent has filed a lawsuit against Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, alleging that the introduction of a policy preventing trans TSA officers from performing pat-downs constitutes sex discrimination.
The plaintiff, Danielle Mittereder, was hired by the TSA in June 2024. According to the complaint filed this week, her application included medical paperwork showing her diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and in a meeting with a Deputy Assistant Federal Security Director-Screening and an Administrative Officer on her first day of work, she clarified that she was transgender.
Mittereder has presented and been identified as a woman throughout her time with the agency, and her supervisors have "rated her with the highest available performance rating ("Meet Standards") for all competencies and have praised her professionalism, skills, knowledge, and rapport with fellow officers and the public."
However, after the president issued his "two sexes" executive order, TSA officials instituted a new policy, according to internal documents obtained by the Associated Press, which massively restricted what trans Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) could do. They are prevented from performing security pat-downs, serving as a TSA-required witness for a private screening area pat-down, demonstrating pat-downs as part of their training or to train others, and from accessing TSA restrooms that match their gender identity.
"Solely because she is transgender," the complaint explains, "TSA now prohibits Plaintiff from conducting core functions of her job, impedes her advancement to higher-level positions and specialized certifications, excludes her from TSA-controlled facilities, and subjects her identity to unwanted and undue scrutiny each workday."
