I've traveled a little recently. I've been fortunate enough to only have to go through the old-school metal detectors. No backscanner X-Ray machine (which I wouldn't submit to anyway) or pat-downs for me. My assessement was that they were intentially NOT putting people through the backscanner machines due to the public backlash and recent media coverage. There were plenty machines around with NONE of them being used. I believe that IF you set off the old-school metal detector, you'd be "selected" for one of the other options.

The question I have relates to pat-downs. According to the TSA, you can opt out of the body scanner and, instead, submit to a pat-down by a TSA agent OF THE SAME SEX. I find this strange for a couple of reasons. WHY must the agent doing the pat-down be the same sex as the passenger? The answer is initially fairly obvious: most women would prefer not to be fully groped by an unknown man. So, you could say that the "same sex" agent is chosen in attempts to take the "sexuality" out of the situation. But who is to say what anyone's sexual preference is.

If the passenger is gay, should they say so in order to NOT have an agent of the same sex pat them down? Or, what if the TSA agent themselves is gay? Wouldn't a gay male patting down a passenger be the same as a hetero man patting down a female passenger?

Why shouldn't someone have the right to request whichever gendered agent they want?

While there are many opportunites for humorous responses to my question (let'em fly!), I'm also curious to hear serious responses too.

-AP