Most people know better than to mess with the law, but Marcy Rheintgen had a different idea. The 20-year-old trans student from Florida wanted to make a point, so she walked into a women’s restroom at the Florida State Capitol. Normally, that wouldn’t be something you’d get arrested for. But under Florida’s controversial bathroom law, Rheintgen now faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge.
This wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment thing either. Rheintgen had sent a letter to all 160 of Florida’s state lawmakers, laying out exactly what she planned to do. So when she showed up at the Capitol on March 19, the police already knew what was coming and were waiting for her. They warned her that if she went into the women’s restroom, she’d get a trespass notice. Still, she stood her ground and refused to leave the area, which led to her arrest.
For this bold move, the trans student is facing a misdemeanor trespassing charge and is set to appear in court this May. If convicted, she could be looking at up to 60 days in jail. She told The Associated Press,
“I wanted people to see the absurdity of this law in practice. If I’m a criminal, it’s going to be so hard for me to live a normal life, all because I washed my hands. Like, that’s so insane.”
Marcy Rheintgen is now the first person ever arrested under Florida’s bathroom law. Nadine Smith, co-founder and executive director of Equality Florida, wasn’t having it. She called the arrest less about protecting women and more about “cruelty, humiliation, and the deliberate erosion of human dignity.” Before this law, trans people used public bathrooms without much trouble. But now, Smith says, lawmakers are just trying “to intimidate them out of public life.”
A lot of people applauded Rheintgen’s bold move to stand up to what they see as Florida’s ridiculous law. One Redditor said,“This was an intentional act of civil disobedience. She wrote to many Florida lawmakers, telling them exactly what she planned to do. Civil disobedience is how society changes. I applaud her efforts.”
Others slammed the bathroom law as both unrealistic and unacceptable. “Yeah, she totally looks like she should be using the men’s room according to our idiotic laws. She’d fit right in with Burly Biff and Chungus Chad,” one user commented sarcastically. “Actual law enforcement time and effort was spent enforcing bigotry. It’s sad. It’s disgusting.”
