Travelling while trans - UK US edition

March 17, 2024 11:40 PM

We're planning a family holiday later in the year - flying into JFK and out from DC. My son is trans and he is very worried about airport security. Is he likely to have problems and what sort of issues could there be?

He has a male gender passport and looks masculine. Obviously the body scan would show that he is trans - is this likely to cause problems? He has a UK prescription for testosterone - will he have any problems bringing this into the US.

posted by anonymous to Travel & Transportation (6 answers total)

Late last year I flew from Heathrow into Austin, travelled within the US via Seattle and Cleveland and then flew back out via JFK, as a nonbinary/transmasc person who's had top surgery but with a passport that still reflects my assigned sex.

I had no issues at all going through the body scanners, even though parts of my body didn't match what the scanner might expect. I didn't get a single pat-down, and the worst interaction (the only bad one at all, in fact) that I had with airport security was a very pointed "have a great trip young lady" from a guy doing passport check at Seattle (I'm mid-30s as well as very masc-presenting, so wrong on both counts my TSA dude). If I didn't open my mouth (my voice doesn't pass as masc very well), the majority of airport workers referred to me as 'sir' based on my appearance.

I can't speak to the testosterone prescription, but if your son looks masculine and has a male passport, it's highly likely that the majority of people he encounters at the airport will assume he's a cis dude (also, cis dudes get prescribed testosterone often enough that seeing someone who looks like a guy with a T prescription won't necessarily clue people in that he's trans). Something else I found very reassuring was that I was never the only trans or gender-nonconforming person at the airport, and nobody else seemed to be having problems either. I left with an overwhelming sense that the people who work at the airport want to get everyone through the airport as quickly as possible, much more than they want to harass any particular category of passengers.

The only concern I might have about the trip you're planning in terms of your son's safety would be whether it falls before or after the election - if Trump is re-elected, I would be concerned that safety & legal status stuff for trans folks could change very fast (or even if it doesn't, that his re-election could make transphobic bozos more open and confident in publicly discriminating against or heckling folks they suspect may be trans).
posted by terretu at 2:05 AM on March 18 [7 favorites]

A lot of this boils down to whether he's had top surgery and whether he's read as male. If so, he should have no issue with the scanners (you can also opt out in the US in favor of a pat down; I have done both without issue).

Double check, but I believe you can bring at least 30 days worth of testosterone (the fact it's a controlled substance might matter, but I don't think so). He needs to bring enough packaging that something has the prescription label (I use gel, so need to bring the box--when I had packets of gel, I'd fold it flat in a Ziploc bag with however many packets). I think the general advice for needles/syringes is to put everything in (say) a pencil case so it obviously goes together.

Honestly, I'd be much more stressed about immigration than the TSA (who occasionally want to see there's a prescription label and that's it). I don't think problems are particularly likely for someone on a UK passport, especially if he's white, but they're the ones with real power. (Disclaimer: I was raised to be afraid of immigration officials and had a scary re-entry into the US early transition, so I can't say it's impossible, but travelling by car was probably a significant factor.)
posted by hoyland at 4:07 AM on March 18 [2 favorites]

Oh, also, if they should pat him down (the scanners get set off by sweat, it's very tedious), it's meant to be a same-gender TSA person, which is generally where people encounter friction -- person A genders them one way, person B another and then they're flummoxed. The rule is that you define your gender, but I'll admit to having dreaded that situation/needing to assert myself when I wasn't gendered consistently.
posted by hoyland at 4:14 AM on March 18 [2 favorites]

I am non binary and can read very neutrally. All of my negative experiences have had to do with being flagged for a patdown and having questions about whether I am male or female and so who will give me the patdown. I still have F on my ID, so this is always resolved with a woman giving the patdown. Since your child has M on their documentation and presents as male, I would be surprised if they have any issues even if they are flagged for patdown - they will be assigned a male agent and that will be the end of it. The only possible concern I would have is if if they're packing AND flagged for crotch patdown AND something about the packing setup seemed strange to the agent - I don't pack, so I don't have any experience with that.
posted by branca at 9:54 AM on March 18 [3 favorites]

Tips for flying with testosterone.

Having a copy of his prescription handy will probably be the most useful thing.
posted by fight or flight at 11:13 AM on March 18

Oh, yeah, general rule of thumb is don't pack while going through airport security. (I don't pack and I have been patted down more than once in the groin by male agents without incident, including during the peak years of aggressive "enhanced" pat downs to punish people for refusing the scanners.)
posted by hoyland at 9:43 PM on March 18