Trans TikToker Miles McKenna recalls terrifying TSA experience which fans dub ‘cannon ftm’ event
McKenna spoke about the ordeal. (@themilesmckenna/Instagram/Getty)
A trans TikToker has recalled a terrifying experience with the Transportation Security Administration at the airport, which fans dubbed a “cannon ftm” event.
Miles McKenna, a 28-year-old trans man, took to TikTok in January to share the experience, which saw him allegedly getting bombarded by TSA agents for wearing a binder.
“I’m at the airport,” they begin of the 2017 experience. “So you know the Queens of the giant machine who pick your gender and they either tell you that you can go or that they need to pat you down? I’m doing that dance.”
The TikTok star continued, explaining that he believed he ran into an “ally” TSA security guard while waiting in line. “He initiates conversation with my trans a**, and he is like, the nicest guy.”
“At this point,” which was around six months into their transition journey, “I don’t think I’m ‘passing’ as male…I think he must have clocked me as trans because of the amount of effort he’s putting in to communicate with me and affirm my gender.”
Once McKenna reached the scanner, it flagged an “abnormality on my chest… which is why they followed it up with a pat-down.” The agent’s hands allegedly went straight onto his chest, when “his face drops, and he gets angry”.
“He goes, ‘what the f**k is this?’,” McKenna alleged. “I didn’t have top surgery at this point, I did have a binder on… I don’t have drugs. Unfortunately, I did have t*ts!
“I don’t even have a chance to say anything, within seconds men [come] from every angle. They take me, they put me in a little room,” he claimed. “These men are yelling at me to take my clothes off. I’m in my boxer briefs, I’m in my binder, I thought that would be enough!”
“Is there no LGBT cultural competency training at the airport?”, McKenna rightly asked. “They have no idea. They think the binder is what’s holding in the contraband.”
And it seems that others have unfortunately gone through similar experiences, with one person replying in the comments by saying: “The canon ftm airport experience.”
“Baby’s first TSA pat down,” another added, while a third shared: “The same thing happened to me lol. They didn’t bring me back or make me strip but they thought I had something on my chest. I had to explain to them.”
PinkNews has contacted a representative of TSA for a comment on the matter.
Unfortunately, similar experiences have unfolded involving trans folk. Back in 2019, a trans woman felt pressured to show airport security her genitals to be allowed to fly, while another trans woman was outed to a crowd in the airport in Orlando, Florida.
