Transgender Woman Arrested for Using a Florida Women's Restroom

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Marcy Rheintgen, a transgender woman from Illinois, was arrested for washing her hands in a women’s restroom at the Florida State Capitol, according to reports.

This is most likely the first time a person has been arrested since the Florida bathroom bill was signed by DeSantis in 2023.

According to reports, Ms. Rheintgen sent letters earlier in March to Florida lawmakers, informing them that she planned to use a specific women’s bathroom in the Capitol and included a photo of herself for identification.

Ms. Rheintgen, a moderate conservative, was sure that common sense would prevail.

On the day Rheintgen planned to use the bathroom, she was met outside by two officers who said they would try to work with her. Rheintgen decided to use the bathroom anyway.

Officers in the restroom told Rheintgen that they would issue her a notice to appear in front of a judge, which would avoid her being sent to jail. They ended up arresting her and charging her with trespassing, a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail.

Equality Florida's Executive Director, Nadine Smith, released the following statement in which said in part:

We were not aware of Marcy’s planned action and cannot speak for her personally, but what has been reported aligns with the long tradition of civil disobedience: the intentional breaking of an unjust law, done publicly and deliberately without causing harm, to expose its cruelty. She wrote lawmakers, identified herself, and made it clear that this was a protest, not a threat.

We’ve seen laws like this before. Whether it was denying access to lunch counters, water fountains, or restrooms, the goal was always the same: to diminish a group’s humanity and license public cruelty. That strategy failed then, and it will fail again because people are standing up, telling the truth, and refusing to be erased.”