Trans student arrested for protesting Florida ban by entering women's bathroom: 'Here to break the law'

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: Marcy Rheintgen, a 20-year-old transgender college student from Illinois, was arrested last month on March 19 at the Florida State Capitol after deliberately entering the women’s restroom to protest the bathroom ban.

Rheintgen wrote letters to all 160 Florida lawmakers before her visit, saying, “I am here to break the law.”

Rheintgen now faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge for violating Florida’s 2023 law that prohibits transgender individuals from using restrooms in public buildings that don’t match their sex assigned at birth. Her arrest is possibly the first in the nation under this kind of law, according to the ACLU.

Trans student Marcy Rheintgen arrested for violating Florida bathroom ban

Civil rights lawyers say Marcy Rheintgen’s arrest last month may be the first documented case of someone being detained under transgender bathroom laws passed by multiple state legislatures.

On March 19 in Tallahassee, Capitol police who had reportedly been tipped off were waiting for the 20-year-old.

She was informed she’d be issued a trespass warning after entering the women’s restroom to wash her hands and pray the Rosary.

However, according to the arrest affidavit, she was taken into custody after refusing to vacate the premises.

“I wanted people to see the absurdity of this law in practice,” reported by The Washington Post. “If I’m a criminal for this, how am I supposed to live a normal life all because I washed my hands. Like, that’s so insane.”

Florida and Utah stand alone in criminalizing bathroom access for trans people

Across the US, more than a dozen states have adopted laws that limit bathroom access for trans people in schools and public buildings.

But only Florida and Utah went a step further criminalizing it, NY Post reported.

On Wednesday, April 2, a judge issued a temporary halt to Montana’s newly enacted bathroom law. Meanwhile, Jon Davidson, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said Rheintgen’s case marks the first known arrest under any state’s criminal ban on transgender bathroom use.

While visiting her grandparents in Florida, Rheintgen decided to write to all 160 state legislators, notifying them of her intention to use a public restroom that did not align with the sex she was assigned at birth.

The Illinois resident explained that her decision to engage in civil disobedience came from deep frustration and heartbreak over watching a place she loves and frequents often become increasingly unwelcoming to trans people.

She has also claimed she does not consider herself an activist or a philosopher but “was just upset, it was just the final straw.”

In her letter to Florida lawmakers, she wrote, “I know that you know in your heart that this law is wrong and unjust. I know that you know in your heart that transgender people are human too, and that you can’t arrest us away. I know that you know that I have dignity. That’s why I know that you won’t arrest me.”

LGBTQ+ advocates have been warning about the real-world fallout of bathroom bans.

“The arrest of Marcy Rheintgen is not about safety,” said Nadine Smith of Equality Florida. “It’s about cruelty, humiliation, and the deliberate erosion of human dignity. Transgender people have been using restrooms aligned with their gender for generations without incident. What’s changed is not their presence — it’s a wave of laws designed to intimidate them out of public life.”

Trans student claims arrest ‘scared’ her

In an interview to The Advocate Rheintgen shared she did not expect to be taken to jail for flouting the ban. She was held at the Leon County Jail for more than 25 hours. 

“It was just so scary. I’ve been in Florida my whole life, but it’s just getting scarier and scarier to be here,” she said.

The law stipulates that she could face 60 days in jail, in the men’s ward, if her case were to go to trial this year. 

Rheintgen also admits in hindsight she does not feel too brave about her defiance and regrets it now given the prospect of her facing jail time. 

She told the outlet, “I wasn’t expecting them to do anything. I was betting on them not reading their mail, to be real,” she said. “I was also betting on them not to arrest me to make a show, and I expected them not to do it because of compassion,” she further explained.

Rheintgen also had a question as she asked: “If we are arresting trans people that is crazy. If you look at polling, people say our policy on trans issues is too far to the left, but if too far to the left is arresting trans people, what is the right-wing option?”