The TSA, Homophobia and a big OOOPS!

I placed this in general conspiracies because it fits in more than one and so, seems to best fit here? Anyway, there are moments of bad judgement, there are mistakes that get made ...and then there is just OOOPS to epic levels of record keeping. I'm sure there are screw ups that top this, but there can't be many. This takes a special kind of cake. It truly does.

Border Guards Picked on the Wrong Judge

LOS ANGELES (CN) - An administrative law judge and his husband sued U.S. Customs and Border Protection for $3 million, claiming an officer asked to see their marriage certificate at the border, and assaulted them when they complained.

William Kocol and Timothy Gajewski sued Several Unnamed U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers in Federal Court, alleging assault and battery, unlawful detention, slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and constitutional violations.

So what precisely happened?

They claim that CBP officers singled them out in December 2012 at Los Angeles International airport after a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

After Kocol handed a Customs officer a Customs card "indicating that he was the 'head of household,' and was traveling with one family member," the plaintiffs say they were asked to explain their relationship.

"Plaintiff Gajewski said 'husband' and then plaintiff Kocol also said 'husband,'" the complaint states.

The story goes on to state that the TSA Officer demanded they show a Marriage Certificate (I've never traveled with mine??) These two were separated, segregated into a private room and pressured in new ways for awhile, after balking at producing the certificate to prove they were what they presented themselves as.

When did the experience stop? When the TSA realized HOW big a screw up they'd just made, of course. Even these idiots understand eventually.

When Gajewski walked toward the room where Kocol was detained, the CBP officer "grabbed his wrist and twisted it backwards behind his back," the complaint states.

The defendants returned Gajewski's and Kocol's passports after Kocol told them he was a federal judge, and that he intended to contact the Human Rights Campaign, and the Gay and Lesbian Center.

The plaintiffs say the officer who eventually processed their passports apologized, and told them: "'Some people can't seem to change with the times.'" (27)

(Source: Courthouse News)

Oh, I'm thinking some will change with the times after this. They'll change attitudes or change careers, whichever is required. A few million reasons seem to be present for such a change to come. What is worse than harassing a gay couple under collar of authority? ....finding out one of them is a sitting United States Federal Judge. This is OOOPS on steroids...and I'd say justice will be served quite cold in the end. Ouch!

It appears gay rights has won another victory, they are now completely free to be groped, harrased, assaulted and berated by the TSA just as much as straight people are.

I don't think this victory is parade worthy though.

HAHAHAHAHA! I LOVE IT!

This jerk is in for a real rude awakening.

It pays off to be respectful to EVERYONE, you just don't know who/what someone is about.

Frickin classic. Is there any worse person to harass than a judge? People will call for these guys jobs but they will probably just be sent for "sensitivity training."

FANTASTIC

I hope the TSA agents are barred from any and all gov't/public service jobs for life.

Gay rights are becoming more main stream around the world....a Long overdue move.

Fairness and equality will eventually obliterate bigotry and discrimination- Be it through legal channels or by sheer muscle

The aggressive behaviors of those that work to oppress the progression of human rights, will be met with an ever strengthening and unified force.

Originally posted by intrepid
Frickin classic. Is there any worse person to harass than a judge? People will call for these guys jobs but they will probably just be sent for "sensitivity training."

Hmm, TSA + sensitivity training = softer squeezing of sensitive body parts? It's time they were abolished, they accomplish nothing, cost mega $'s to taxpayers and are a bunch of fat, unemployable and ugly people. At least, from what I've seen of most of the youtube vids posted.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


These officers were CBP not TSA big difference.

Originally posted by Carreau
reply to post by LightSpeedDriver

 

These officers were CBP not TSA big difference.

The difference in what agency they belong to is largely irrelevant to their deplorable actions... Period.

reply to post by topdog81


I am in no way trying to diminish the illegal actions of the officers, quite the contrary I want the agency they belong to to get the publicity and blame it rightfully warrants. So naming the wrong agency doesn't help shed light on where the problem is.

Plus the TSA does itself enough damage no need to pile on misinformation.

OP Note: Timer is expired on the OP edit and has been for awhile. I know that isn't how time stamps look, but arguing with computers never gets me far... lol

Anyway, Carreau is right and it's Customs guys. Customs and Border Protection to be precise. Prior to posting this...I went to looking to see what the difference is for how it works at the airport there and oddly, can't seem to find imagery of the Customs checkpoint area. I suppose that would be a Sensitive area for photographs. What I wonder though is, is it just CBP or a mixture of them, working the same area or in/out sides of the same checkpoint? Doing a search online to just find CBP agents at an International Airport simply brought up the familiar light blue of the TSA for reference.

It makes no difference to the fact my title should be CBP and not TSA to be technically correct. However, I might as well share something I came across and found interesting. The patches both agencies wear are different between right and left sides. Howeverm one of the patches worn by each is a basic agency ID patch. Look at how similar they are?

(Source: Wikicommons)

(Source: ACLJ)

I'd thought to make a joke about how they all probably share the same breakroom and talk about what they do around and to passengers anyway....before finding those and seeing the uniforms are so similar. Almost like it's one big Federal force with mere divisions....not entirely separate agencies. Hmmm...

Anyway... For the record, it's CBP and not TSA people in this specific instance.

TSA controls the security check points prior to entering the gate boarding areas of the airports. CBP controls the checks points that screen passengers departing a international flight and entering the country. The two are completely separate. yes they both fall under DHS but Customs used to belong to Treasury. Photography is banned in CBP check points, so I'm not surprised you couldn't find a picture of one online.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Essentially: DHS employees, regardless of subdivision.

Figures. DHS....they need to go so bad that it makes me forget completely about the CIA and IRS.

Originally posted by topdog81
... the progression of human rights...

To talk about gay marriage as a great victory for civil rights, in an age of torture, indefinite detention without trial, wars of aggression, targeted assassinations, the disappearing of the Bill of Rights, a rampaging police state, etc. etc., is a bizarre joke.

Originally posted by starviego

Originally posted by topdog81
... the progression of human rights...

To talk about gay marriage as a great victory for civil rights, in an age of torture, indefinite detention without trial, wars of aggression, targeted assassinations, the disappearing of the Bill of Rights, a rampaging police state, etc. etc., is a bizarre joke.

edit on 21-5-2013 by starviego because: (no reason given)

Agreed.

Plus the fact federal judges get off easy while the rest of us would have suffered for much longer.

Sucks that hierarchical positions determine how you are treated in this sick society.

It's one horror TSA story after the other...

Reminds me of the new fail geico commercial...

"Happier than the Pillsbury Dough Boy being groped by the TSA"

My question about the TSA is this, did Obama personally scare the head of the TSA so badly with supposed intel on supposed threats that they are forced to grope and interrogate and molest these innocent people?

It's the only logical thing that comes to mind. I can see Obama claiming this was the purpose for all of the extreme TSA searches over the years, to avoid another 9/11, and him claiming it worked, maybe it did but at what cost? The cost of X number of innocent citizens being physically harassed? The TSA horror stories go on and on, yet the TSA keep up the good work, they keep on molesting, it's almost as if every morning they get a pep talk and are told to grope harder, interrogate further, and violate the heck out of those they randomly choose to sacrifice upon the TSA altar, giving thanks to the TSA god.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


This is a great story. Unfortunately, the same thing probably happened to a dozen people who are not judges, and they got away with it. I don't have any friends that are same-sex couples, and it's not an issue where I really care about, or have much opinion on. I do believe they should be given all the rights as other people, since in the end, we only have one life, we are all human, and people should be able to live the way they want.

I think this story is great, in the sense these guys got their asses handed to them. But again, sad how many people have probably been abused by those agents and they weren't judges, or people with high power jobs.

reply to post by starviego

To talk about gay marriage as a great victory for civil rights, in an age of torture, indefinite detention without trial, wars of aggression, targeted assassinations, the disappearing of the Bill of Rights, a rampaging police state, etc. etc., is a bizarre joke.

Every age since prehistory has been one of torture, indefinite detention without trial (remember the Man in the Iron Mask), et cetera, et cetera.

That homosexuals, hated and hounded for centuries, should win the right to be treated equally with other people is a great victory for humanity, whether you wish to admit it or not.

Originally posted by Astyanax
Every age since prehistory has been one of torture, indefinite detention without trial (remember the Man in the Iron Mask), et cetera, et cetera. That homosexuals, hated and hounded for centuries, should win the right to be treated equally with other people is a great victory for humanity, whether you wish to admit it or not.

I was talking about the US, where the respect for human rights is at the lowest level it has been since the end of WW2. And gays have already been treated like everyone else for a long time. Expropriating a heterosexual institution like marriage is not a right, it's a mockery of the greater society's values and institutions.

reply to post by starviego

I was talking about the US, where the respect for human rights is at the lowest level it has been since the end of WW2.

You appear to be forgetting quite a lot of history, such as racial segregation and the denial of voting rights to black people by white ones (which continued up to the 1960s in much of the USA), as well as the activities of Joe McCarthy and HUAC, and much more in that vein. The human-rights picture in the United States is currently better now than at any time in the past – except, perhaps, for a brief period between the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the War on Terror.

Perhaps you meant to say that respect for white Anglo-Saxon Protestant male privileges is at the lowest level it has been since the end of WW2. You may be right about that, and a good thing too.

And gays have already been treated like everyone else for a long time.

Has homosexual marriage always been legal? Have homosexuals always been the legitimate inheritors of their long-term partners' estates? Have homosexual couples always had the right to adopt children?

Expropriating a heterosexual institution like marriage is not a right, it's a mockery of the greater society's values and institutions.

'Expropriating'? Are heterosexuals being denied the right to marry?

Anyway, who says marriage is an exclusively heterosexual institution?

And who defines 'the greater society's' values and institutions according to you? The Westboro Baptist Church?