TSA Announces New Policies For Gender-Neutral Screening At Airport Checkpoints

BOSTON (CBS) – The Transportation Security Administration announced it is implementing new screening practices for transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming passengers at airport checkpoints.

TSA said its new plan includes enhanced screening technology, reducing the number of pat-down screenings, streamlining the identification validation process, making TSA PreCheck more inclusive and improving communication with passengers.

The Advancement Imaging Technology (AIT) units at airport checkpoints will be improved. The current system, which is a gender-based system, will be replaced with a new and more accurate technology that TSA said "will also advance civil rights."

The AIT upgrades are expected later this year.

Less invasive screening will be permitted for passengers who trigger the AIT scanner in a sensitive area, TSA said. The organization said the reduction of pat-downs will not compromise security.

Already implemented in February was a change in checking identification. When a passenger arrives at the podium to have their identification checked, gender information is no longer a part of the process to proceed into the screening area.

The TSA PreCheck program will be updated to include an "X" gender marker on the application. Starting in early April, PreCheck members can select their gender based on "self-attestation," rather than what is marked on identifying documents.