Trans Woman Arrested for Using the Bathroom in Florida
Twenty-year-old trans woman and student Marcy Rheintgen was arrested last month for using the women’s bathroom in Florida’s State Capitol building and was subsequently charged with trespassing for her actions. Since then, trans rights activists, not just in Florida but across the country, have spoken out against the absurd arrest and all of the proceedings surrounding it.
Rheintgen enacted her peaceful protest on March 19 after sending a letter to all 160 state and local government officials in Florida, stating when she would be enacting her protest and pleas that she not be arrested to show solidarity with her cause (including pictures of herself so that officers would know that she was the one breaking the law because—surprise! Trans people look like everybody else!) She walked up to the second floor bathroom of the House office building of the Florida State Capitol. She was met at the door with two police officers who informed her that she would be hit with a trespass notice should she enter the bathroom. Rheintgen met this backhanded hostility with a to-the-point, “I am here to break the law,” and entered the bathroom for around 30 seconds to a minute. She said that she had originally intended to pray the rosary in protest, being a woman of faith, but quickly realized she didn’t have time—She washed her hands as one of the officers informed her that she would be arrested if she did not leave. She replied, “OK,” and was subsequently arrested.
Rheintgen was held in the Leon County Jail for 25 hours, and could face 60 days in jail in addition to a $500 fine if her case goes to trial later this year—She did, self-admittedly, purposely break the invasive state law against trans people using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity and did so as an act of protest against said law. However, her arrest is the first (known) one for this reason in any of the five states with an anti-trans bathroom ban. Her arrest report used male pronouns to refer to her, which is exceptionally rude regardless, and adds insult to injury in such a case as this. The executive director of the LGBTQ+ rights program Equality Florida, Nadine Smith, says that Rheintgen’s arrest was not an actual act to ensure the perceived “safety” of other citizens, but rather a “deliberate erosion of human dignity.” Rheintgen said in a letter to Florida officials, “I know that you know in your heart that transgender people are human too and that you can’t arrest us away.”
The law, officially titled the Safety in Private Spaces Act, was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis on July 1 of 2023 and applies to bathrooms/changing rooms in all state-owned buildings such as public schools, prisons, libraries, and government buildings. Florida is just one of five states to pass such a law since 2022, being in the company of Utah, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming—and one of two (Utah being the other) where a violation of a anti-trans bathroom law can result in criminal charges. This discrimination isn’t just happening on a national and state level, either; late last year, a small town in Texas placed a literal bounty on the heads of trans people using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
