An Irish trans woman posted on Twitter about a humiliating experience at Luton Airport London in which she claimed her breasts were touched by a male guard in the public airport security area. She claimed she was subsequently searched by the staff member in a separate room with another male security guard present in the room.

The woman, who goes by the name Lilith, alleges that she was forced to remove her bra while being repeatedly misgendered by the security officer. Lilith explained that the incident left her shaken and upset.

Lilith outlined her airport security experience in a thread on Twitter:

“I had a terribly traumatic experience going through security before my 20:05 flight from Luton to Dublin. Tripped the machine so forced to do the body scan. A guy then searches me and touched my breasts in the public area.

“He asks what I’m wearing, I say a bra, asks what’s underneath, tell him my breasts, he says I have to take it off to show him what’s underneath, he takes me into a room, forces me to take my bra off while repeatedly misgendering me. I corrected him every time.

“When we returned to get my things I showed him my passport. I ask him to tell me what it says (female). He said well you didn’t tell me. I was left shaking and humiliated after the ordeal. I couldn’t help but burst out crying in departures. I’m so upset.”

Luton Airport replied to Lilith’s thread, saying they were “extremely sorry and disappointed to read this”. The airport reached out to Lilith via email and promised that their team would investigate the incident as soon as possible.

We reached out to Luton Airport for a statement in which they said:

“We have apologised to [Lilith] for any distress she experienced as she passed through mandatory security checks. We are conducting a full investigation and will take appropriate action where necessary.”