New flight requirements will mandate that all passengers declare their full name, age, and gender to book travel, leaving some transgender advocates worried about the implications to come.
The Transportation Security Administration is working on a Secure Flight database to reduce the number of times a passenger is misidentified as a possible terrorist.
The first phase of the initiative, implemented this year, required that airlines collect the names of all passengers, shown verbatim as they are featured on government-issued identification. The next phase, which begins on August 15, will require passengers to declare their gender at the time of booking their flights.
TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird told Advocate.com on Thursday that transgender travelers who are purchasing tickets should declare "the gender that they were at the time that they booked their flight."
However, Baird said he was unsure whether those who don't identify with a specific gender or are in transition would be held to the same rules.
Kristina Wertz, the Transgender Law Center's legal director, said the new regulations will likely exacerbate airport hassles that some transgender people already face while traveling.
"A lot of transgender people don't have documents" that match up with how they currently identify, she said. "There are always troubles that arise when dealing with documents. People are sometimes forced to disclose their transgender status in a situation where they may not want to."
Wertz said she hopes that the TSA is open to receiving training on transgender issues to prevent uncomfortable situations at the airport.
The phase starts with some airlines this weekend, and by the end of March 2010 all companies will be required to obtain gender information from those booking travel.
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