ACLU questions airport pat downs

By Ken Kaye
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Airport-security pat downs might constitute sexual harassment and discriminate against women, the American Civil Liberties Union said yesterday.

After receiving numerous complaints from throughout the nation, the ACLU hopes to meet with top Homeland Security administrators next week to ask whether screeners are given specific standards on how to select passengers and conduct secondary screenings.

The ACLU is concerned that women are targeted for pat downs more than men. If so, that raises questions about whether the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is discriminating on the basis of gender, said Barry Steinhardt of the ACLU's New York office.

"What they're doing is subjecting women to very aggressive, intrusive searches," he said. "We're worried that this is, in fact, sexual harassment."

Passenger Rhonda Gaynier, who said she was given a "breast exam" by screeners in Tampa last month, was so upset she retained Norman Siegel, a civil-rights lawyer, to study the feasibility of a class-action suit against the TSA.

"People are so offended by this, they can't believe it," said Gaynier, a New York attorney. "It's like this isn't the United States."

With the bustling Thanksgiving travel weekend under way, the TSA insists pat downs are necessary because passengers could hide nonmetallic explosives under bulky clothing and get through magnetometers undetected.

Under new procedures for secondary screenings imposed Sept. 22, screeners are required to use the back of their hands to check breasts, genitals and buttocks. Passengers can request it be done out of public view. Female screeners must pat down women and male screeners, men.

The initiative began after two Russian airliners exploded Aug. 24, killing 90. Two Chechen women are thought to have hidden explosives under clothing.

TSA spokeswoman Lauren Stover denied women are being singled out more than men. "We do not discriminate against any gender, race or ethnicity," she said. "Our bottom line is to keep explosives off an airplane."

Since September, the TSA has received 250 complaints, mostly from women, Stover said. Yet she noted that is a small number in light of the 1.8 million passengers who fly each day from 450 U.S. airports.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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