Nanny State

Breast Man

War on chicken cutlets

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"Would this happen if I were dressed as Britney Spears?" drag star Derrick Barry asked a reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in April. Barry, a featured player in the Divas Las Vegas show at the Imperial Palace, was delayed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) when he attempted to board a plane with a carry-on bag containing tools of his trade: silicone breast enhancers, known as chicken cutlets. 

Apparently Barry's enhancements were sizable; they exceeded the TSA's 3.4-ounce-per-container limit on liquids and gels. According to the TSA's website, the list of permitted objects includes "items used to augment the body for medical or cosmetic reasons such as mastectomy products, prosthetic breasts, bras or shells containing gels, saline solution, or other liquids." Furthermore, "If you decide to bring your prosthesis or mastectomy bra in your accessible property rather than wearing it, it will be allowed through the checkpoint after it is screened." 

The latter guidance is aimed at breast cancer survivors, however. It remains unclear whether being not a girl and not yet a woman is a qualifying condition. After being held for more than an hour while TSA officials tried to figure out what to do with him, Barry narrowly managed to catch his flight to Tampa, falsies in tow.