A transgender woman has been arrested in Florida for washing her hands in a women’s bathroom. While she was released the following day, her arrest is believed to be the first under the bathroom bill state lawmakers passed two years earlier.
On March 19, Marcy Rheintgen—a 20-year-old college student from Illinois—traveled to Florida where she used a bathroom on Capitol Hill, according to the Tampa Bay Times. She did so as part of a planned protest to Florida’s 2023 bathroom bill. Earlier in the month, she notified local law enforcement about which bathroom she planned to use with a letter and a photo of herself.
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“I know that you know in your heart that this law is wrong and unjust,” Rheintgen’s letter read. “I know that you know in your heart that transgender people are human too, and you can’t arrest us away.”
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“I know that you know that I have dignity,” she added. “That’s why I know that you won’t arrest me.”
When Rheintgen arrived at the restroom, two police officers stopped her and attempted to dissuade her from going inside. After she ignored them, officers initially issued a notice to appear before a judge, which would avoid arrest. Apparently, they changed their minds and arrested her under a trespassing charge, which the Times notes is a second-degree misdemeanor carrying a potential 60-day jail sentence.
It’s not clear why officers decided to arrest Rheintgen. The affidavit said only that she did not meet the criteria for a notice to appear. Rheintgen recalled that she’d been “sassy” to the officers who spoke to her.
The arrest has not only personally shaken Rheintgen, it may represent the first of its kind under Florida’s bathroom bill. “The arrest of Marcy Rheintgen is not about safety,” said Equality Florida executive director Nadine Smith. “It’s about cruelty, humiliation, and the deliberate erosion of human dignity.”
Rheintgen has now said that she didn’t actually expect to be arrested. Although she was released 24 hours later, she now has to return to Florida for more hearings.
While Rheintgen has described herself as a moderate conservative, she has now experienced the consequences of politics first-hand. “Everything that is politics seems very abstract and philosophical from far away,” Rheintgen said. “This is the first time it’s really affected me.
“I got arrested and I got sent to jail because of Gov. (Ron) DeSantis’ policies — like that’s crazy, that’s crazy!”
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