A judge has thrown out the case of a 20-year-old trans woman who was arrested in Florida for washing her hands in a women’s bathroom.
Prosecutors reportedly failed to meet the deadline for filing charging documents against Marcy Rheintgen after she was arrested while protesting the state’s anti-trans bathroom ban. A Leon County judge granted her lawyer’s motion to dismiss the misdemeanor trespassing charge.
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“Lawmakers don’t need to be involved in my doctor visits. … They’ve got a lane and they should stay in it.”
In April, Rheintgen informed Florida lawmakers of her plan to enter the state’s Capitol building and use the restroom, even including a photo of herself so they knew who to look for. She never thought police would actually arrest her, despite the fact that the move broke the 2023 law.
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“I know that you know in your heart that this law is wrong and unjust,” Rheintgen told the lawmakers. “I know that you know in your heart that transgender people are human too, and 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.”
Nevertheless, two cops met her at the restroom, but she decided to go in anyway. At first, they told her they would just give her a notice to appear before the judge. But they then reported she became “sassy” and indicated she may use the women’s bathroom again, so they arrested her.
Rheintgen then launched social media accounts where she spoke about her experience being put in a men’s jail for a day after the arrest, as well as her trial in which prosecutors were seeking to imprison her for 11 months.
She also regularly records response videos to hateful comments, slamming folks who call her a predator for washing her hands. “I’m somebody’s child,” she pleaded in one video after someone said she engaged in “predatory behavior” and “repeatedly violated the boundaries of women and girls.”
“What’s wrong with you?” she said, asking if the commenter seriously believed being imprisoned for washing her hands was an “appropriate response.”
Florida’s bathroom ban criminalizes anyone who uses a toilet or changing facility that doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth. It applies to public schools, universities, parks, prisons, and other government buildings but not to businesses and healthcare facilities.
The law only applies to facilities run by the state, but transgender and nonbinary Floridians have nonetheless been confronted, harassed, and intimidated in public restrooms located inside private businesses.
Last year, victims of the law spoke about the extreme measures they have taken to avoid restrooms, like neglecting to drink water and even peeing in bottles in their cars. Some said they even avoid going out in public altogether.
Rheintgen is believed to be the first person actually arrested for violating the law.
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