A transgender college student declared 鈥淚 am here to break the law鈥 before entering a women鈥檚 restroom at the Florida State Capitol and being led out in handcuffs by police. Civil rights attorneys say the arrest of Marcy Rheintgen last month is the first they know of for violating transgender bathroom restrictions passed by numerous state legislatures across the country.
Capitol police had been alerted and were waiting for Rheintgen, 20, when she entered the building in Tallahassee March 19. They told her she would receive a trespass warning once she entered the women's restroom to wash her hands and pray the rosary, but she was later placed under arrest when she refused to leave, according to an arrest affidavit.
Rheintgen faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge punishable by up to 60 days in jail and is due to appear in court in May.
鈥淚 wanted people to see the absurdity of this law in practice,鈥 Rheintgen told The Associated Press. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 a criminal, it鈥檚 going to be so hard for me to live a normal life, all because I washed my hands. Like, that鈥檚 so insane.鈥
At least 14 states have adopted laws barring transgender women from entering women鈥檚 bathrooms at public schools and, in some cases, other government buildings. Only two 鈥 Florida and Utah 鈥 criminalize the act.
Rheintgen's arrest in Florida is the first that American Civil Liberties Union attorneys are aware of in any state with a criminal ban, senior staff attorney Jon Davidson said.
Rheintgen was in town visiting her grandparents when she decided to pen a letter to each of Florida鈥檚 160 state lawmakers informing them of her plan to enter a public restroom inconsistent with her sex assigned at birth. The Illinois resident said her act of civil disobedience was fueled by anger at seeing a place she loves and visits regularly grow hostile toward trans people.
鈥淚 know that you know in your heart that this law is wrong and unjust,鈥 she wrote in her letter to lawmakers. 鈥淚 know that you know in your heart that transgender people are human too, and that you can鈥檛 arrest us away. I know that you know that I have dignity. That鈥檚 why I know that you won鈥檛 arrest me.鈥
Her arrest comes as many Republican-led states that have enacted restroom restrictions grapple with . Laws in Kansas, and North Dakota do not spell out any enforcement mechanism, and even the state laws that do largely rely on private individuals to report violations.
In Utah, activists created to alert state officials to possible violations of its with thousands of hoax reports in an effort to shield transgender residents and their allies from any legitimate complaints that could lead to an investigation.
Supporters of the laws say they are needed to protect women and girls in private single-sex spaces.
Opponents such as Nadine Smith, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Florida, say they create dangerous situations for all by giving people license to police others' bodies in bathrooms.
鈥淭he arrest of Marcy Rheintgen is not about safety," Smith said. "It鈥檚 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鈥檚 changed is not their presence 鈥 it鈥檚 a wave of laws designed to intimidate them out of public life.鈥
If Rheintgen is convicted, she worries she could be jailed with men, forced to cut her long hair and prevented temporarily from taking gender-affirming hormones.
鈥淧eople are telling me it's a legal test, like this is the first case that's being brought," she said. 鈥淚t's how they test the law. But I didn't do this to test the law. I did it because I was upset. I can't have any expectations for what's going to happen because this has never been prosecuted before. I'm horrified and scared.鈥
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Associated Press writer Kate Payne contributed reporting from Tallahassee.
