Tommy Dorfman Accuses Delta Staffer of Misgendering Her ‘Multiple Times’
Tommy Dorfman is accusing a Delta Airlines employee of intentionally misgendering her at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.
“When you try to advocate for yourself at @delta and are met with even more transphobia and threats of being arrested at LaGuardia,” Dorfman, 31, captioned a since-deleted TikTok video initially posted on Saturday, December 23. The clip has been circulated via social media.
Dorfman continued: “Tristan, the employee, said he was fine with me posting this. Didn’t realize it was condescending to flag a human rights violation after another employee misgendered me incessantly.”
The video, filmed by Dorfman, captured an exchange between herself and a Delta staffer.
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“And what about when a Delta employee misgenders you intentionally?” Dorfman asked in the clip.
The Delta worker then addressed someone off camera, saying: “I’m so sorry, while she’s talking, while he’s talking, you’re talking over me.”
Dorfman told the staff member, “You just misgendered me again multiple times. Both of you have.”
The Delta worker replied: “OK, gotcha. Wasn’t intentional, but if you wanna take it personal, that’s also OK.”
Dorfman then claimed that another employee, who was not on camera, “did [misgender her] intentionally, twice.”
The off-camera employee responded: “I did not do it intentionally.”
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After Dorfman alleged that the employees had used both she/her and he/him pronouns to address her, the on-camera staffer told Dorfman to stop.
“You’re being condescending, and if you want to continue, I’ll have Port Authority escort you out [of] the building right this moment, if you want to play this game with me,” the employee said. “Would you like to continue three days before Christmas? I really don’t mind.”
Dorfman replied, “I’m good,” before ending the video. A spokesperson for Delta Airlines told Us Weekly, “We’re aware of the video and looking into the matter, including reaching out to our customer to understand more about what occurred.”
Dorfman publicly came out as transgender during a July 2021 TIME interview.
“For a year now, I have been privately identifying and living as a woman — a trans woman,” the 13 Reasons Why alum said. “It’s funny to think about coming out because I haven’t gone anywhere. I view today as a reintroduction to me as a woman, having made a transition medically. Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out. Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy.”
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The actress further explained why it was important to her to share her identity with the world.
“I’ve been living in this other version of coming out where I don’t feel safe enough to talk about it, so I just do it. But I recognize that transitioning is beautiful. Why not let the world see what that looks like?” she said. “So I kept, on Instagram, a diaristic time capsule instead — one that shows a body living in a more fluid space. However, I’ve learned as a public-facing person that my refusal to clarify can strip me of the freedom to control my own narrative. With this medical transition, there has been discourse about my body, and it began to feel overwhelming.”
