Pandering to heteros
Hugh Freaking Dillon
Posts: 14,010
What about the gay men/women that don't want to be touched by the same sex? I find this funny:
OTTAWA - Canada's air-security agency has ordered officers to stop the routine screening of travellers of the opposite sex.
Instead, passengers who set off an alarm as they walk through airport metal detectors must be searched by a screening officer of the same sex.
The official policy change was quietly disseminated by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority in December to the firms it contracts to handle security at 89 airports across the country.
A copy of the bulletin was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
Once a metal-detector alarm is triggered at a passenger checkpoint, the screening of a traveller can be invasive. A hand-held device is run along all parts of the body scanning for metal. Belts can be ordered unbuckled, shoes removed.
A spokesman for the agency said "no particular incident" triggered the new bulletin. Rather the change is "simply CATSA's desire to improve its policies and procedures," said Mathieu Larocque.
Passengers already have the right to request that any physical search prompted by an alarm be conducted out of public view. In such cases, two officers of the same sex as the person being searched must attend. One officer carries out the actual examination while the other acts as a witness to ensure no improper activity takes place.
But most passengers accept public searches at often-busy screening points.
"This is a procedure that enhances our customer service," Larocque said of the new policy.
Word of CATSA's same-sex code comes just as the agency begins to install highly invasive scanning equipment at airports. Full-body scanners will penetrate clothing to produce a three-dimensional image of the body beneath, where hidden weapons or explosives can be readily seen.
The authority plans to have eight full-body scanners in place at major airports in March, and 36 more machines in the months that follow.
The program was accelerated after a Christmas Day incident in which a Nigeria man is accused of sewing explosives into his underwear in a failed attempt to bring down a Detroit-bound flight. Last week, Transport Minister John Baird said stiffer air-security fees will be added to ticket prices on April 1, pending parliamentary approval, partly to help pay for the new technology.
CATSA says the officer viewing the body-scan image will be in a separate room, with no direct view of the traveller or access to any personal information. The agency also says images will be deleted immediately, with no storage, printing or transmission.
But the safeguards have not quelled worries among many travellers about the invasive nature of the new machines, which will allow male officers to view female bodies, for example.
The restrictive same-sex procedures for screening officers are being implemented at the same time as the agency eases some workplace rules for female employees.
Previously, women officers who required maternity uniforms had to produce a doctor's note to prove they were actually pregnant. The agency had justified the policy by saying the written confirmation was necessary to justify the significant cost of maternity wear.
But that requirement has now been dropped. "It is simply a revision that allows (us) to streamline this process," Larocque said.
Necklaces, which had been banned, are now allowed. And earrings are now permitted to hang more than six millimetres below the earlobes.
The eased rules follow a controversy in 2007 when a Muslim woman officer was disciplined for wearing a skirt that was longer than regulations allowed. Halima Muse, who worked at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, lengthened her hemline in accordance with the Islamic dress code that promotes modest attire among Muslims.
Muse was suspended and without work for three months. Her union and the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations took her case to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. In 2008, she withdrew her complaint and a settlement was reached that included compensation for lost wages, benefits and seniority. CATSA also agreed to allow longer skirts.
The agency sets workplace standards for more than 6,000 screening staff across the country. About 48 million passengers are screened annually.
CATSA was created in 2002 in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. On Jan. 1, 2003, the organization took over sole responsibility for air-passenger screening, which had previously been handled by the airlines.
OTTAWA - Canada's air-security agency has ordered officers to stop the routine screening of travellers of the opposite sex.
Instead, passengers who set off an alarm as they walk through airport metal detectors must be searched by a screening officer of the same sex.
The official policy change was quietly disseminated by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority in December to the firms it contracts to handle security at 89 airports across the country.
A copy of the bulletin was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
Once a metal-detector alarm is triggered at a passenger checkpoint, the screening of a traveller can be invasive. A hand-held device is run along all parts of the body scanning for metal. Belts can be ordered unbuckled, shoes removed.
A spokesman for the agency said "no particular incident" triggered the new bulletin. Rather the change is "simply CATSA's desire to improve its policies and procedures," said Mathieu Larocque.
Passengers already have the right to request that any physical search prompted by an alarm be conducted out of public view. In such cases, two officers of the same sex as the person being searched must attend. One officer carries out the actual examination while the other acts as a witness to ensure no improper activity takes place.
But most passengers accept public searches at often-busy screening points.
"This is a procedure that enhances our customer service," Larocque said of the new policy.
Word of CATSA's same-sex code comes just as the agency begins to install highly invasive scanning equipment at airports. Full-body scanners will penetrate clothing to produce a three-dimensional image of the body beneath, where hidden weapons or explosives can be readily seen.
The authority plans to have eight full-body scanners in place at major airports in March, and 36 more machines in the months that follow.
The program was accelerated after a Christmas Day incident in which a Nigeria man is accused of sewing explosives into his underwear in a failed attempt to bring down a Detroit-bound flight. Last week, Transport Minister John Baird said stiffer air-security fees will be added to ticket prices on April 1, pending parliamentary approval, partly to help pay for the new technology.
CATSA says the officer viewing the body-scan image will be in a separate room, with no direct view of the traveller or access to any personal information. The agency also says images will be deleted immediately, with no storage, printing or transmission.
But the safeguards have not quelled worries among many travellers about the invasive nature of the new machines, which will allow male officers to view female bodies, for example.
The restrictive same-sex procedures for screening officers are being implemented at the same time as the agency eases some workplace rules for female employees.
Previously, women officers who required maternity uniforms had to produce a doctor's note to prove they were actually pregnant. The agency had justified the policy by saying the written confirmation was necessary to justify the significant cost of maternity wear.
But that requirement has now been dropped. "It is simply a revision that allows (us) to streamline this process," Larocque said.
Necklaces, which had been banned, are now allowed. And earrings are now permitted to hang more than six millimetres below the earlobes.
The eased rules follow a controversy in 2007 when a Muslim woman officer was disciplined for wearing a skirt that was longer than regulations allowed. Halima Muse, who worked at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, lengthened her hemline in accordance with the Islamic dress code that promotes modest attire among Muslims.
Muse was suspended and without work for three months. Her union and the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations took her case to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. In 2008, she withdrew her complaint and a settlement was reached that included compensation for lost wages, benefits and seniority. CATSA also agreed to allow longer skirts.
The agency sets workplace standards for more than 6,000 screening staff across the country. About 48 million passengers are screened annually.
CATSA was created in 2002 in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. On Jan. 1, 2003, the organization took over sole responsibility for air-passenger screening, which had previously been handled by the airlines.
Gimli 1993
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
Post edited by Unknown User on
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You make a valid point though...what if the screener is a gay male...who can he screen?
that's exactly what I was trying to say. Obviously you have to make rules that apply to the masses, but what will they do if a gay man gets touched by a straight man, gay man gets boner, straight man freaks out, and a problem ensues?
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
Just the same as a man can frisk a female or vice versa without it being in a sexual way.
This rules are meant to try and reduce the risk of an issue...if you limit your liability to gay fondling I suppose your risk is significantly reduced.
of COURSE not, that's not the point. and my example was of a straight man frisking a gay man. in no way was I intimating that just because you are gay that you get turned on at every same sex person. Hey, if a hot chick was feeling me up, damn right I'd be tenting it. That's all that was meant by it.
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
i work security for concerts and whenever we have to pat people down coming in, it's the same. guys pat down guys, gals pat down gals. the most bizarre thing i've heard so far happened at the last show i worked. people were coming in, we had the women line up to the right and the men line up to the left. one guy wanted his wife to stay in line with him but we told him she couldn't be patted down my a man, she had to wait in the women's line. we knew why he didn't want to be in different lines, the show was GA and he didn't want one of them getting in and waiting for the other one, losing valuable seconds and precious floor positioning (not making light, i've been to plenty of GA shows and know mere seconds can screw you out of a good spot). so after we told him his wife couldn't be patted down by a man, he starts screaming "this is discrimination! this is bullshit!" lol, discrimination? for real?