Nationwide Information
Marcy Rheintgen mentioned she was held in jail in a single day after she intentionally challenged a state regulation by getting into a ladies’s rest room within the authorities constructing.
A transgender lady was arrested on the Florida state Capitol final month after she used a toilet there to protest a state regulation that blocks transgender individuals from utilizing a bathroom that aligns with their gender id.
The lady, Marcy Rheintgen, 20, mentioned Sunday that she had deliberately damaged the regulation. Civil rights consultants mentioned that this was the primary identified case of somebody being arrested for difficult a regulation that bans transgender individuals from utilizing loos in authorities buildings that don’t align with their gender assigned at delivery.
Rheintgen mentioned she had been feeling emotional about what she described as dehumanizing language utilized by elected officers to speak about transgender individuals when the thought got here to her: “What if I simply broke the regulation as a result of the regulation is so silly?”
Rheintgen mentioned that she despatched 160 letters to state representatives, the legal professional basic and governor to inform them when she would use the lavatory and requested that she not be arrested.
She arrived on the rest room on the second flooring of the Home workplace constructing of the Capitol in Tallahassee on March 19.
Two cops spoke to Rheintgen exterior the lavatory and instructed her that she can be given a trespass warning if she entered, in keeping with an arrest report from the Florida Division of Legislation Enforcement.
The police had seen a replica of Rheintgen’s letter, mentioned the report, which used male pronouns to confer with her.
In accordance with the report, Rheintgen instructed the officers, “I’m right here to interrupt the regulation,” and entered the lavatory. She mentioned in an interview with The New York Instances that she spent most likely 30 seconds to a minute inside.
“I used to be initially intending to hope the rosary, however I didn’t have sufficient time,” she mentioned. “I used to be simply washing my fingers, and so they instructed me to go away.”
An officer adopted inside and mentioned that Rheintgen can be topic to arrest if she didn’t depart, and Rheintgen mentioned, “OK,” in keeping with the report.
She mentioned she spent about 24 hours in jail. If convicted, she faces as much as 60 days in jail and a $500 tremendous. Her arraignment is scheduled for Could, in keeping with courtroom data.
The Florida Division of Legislation Enforcement mentioned in an e mail Monday that Rheintgen was arrested for “trespass on property after warning,” not particularly for violating the state’s rest room regulation, the “Security in Non-public Areas Act.”
The regulation, which went into impact July 1, 2023, applies to loos and altering amenities in authorities buildings, together with colleges, prisons and libraries.
Representatives for Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the lavatory regulation, and the state legal professional basic, James Uthmeier, didn’t reply to requests for remark Monday.
Since 2022, 5 states have handed a transgender rest room regulation for all authorities buildings, in keeping with the American Civil Liberties Union.
In two of these states, Florida and Utah, violations may end up in legal penalties. Within the three different states, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming, the legal guidelines have civil penalties.
A district courtroom decide in Montana blocked the state’s regulation April 2 after a authorized problem by the ACLU.
Gillian Branstetter, a communications strategist with the ACLU, mentioned that, to the very best of the group’s information, Rheintgen’s arrest was the primary on file underneath these 5 state legal guidelines.
There are 14 different states that ban transgender individuals from selecting their very own rest room, however these apply solely to some — not all — authorities buildings and colleges.
Nadine Smith, the chief director of Equality Florida, a LGBTQ+ civil rights group, mentioned in a press release that Rheintgen’s arrest was a “deliberate erosion of human dignity.”
“Transgender individuals have been utilizing restrooms aligned with their gender for generations with out incident,” Smith mentioned. “What’s modified shouldn’t be their presence — it’s a wave of legal guidelines designed to intimidate them out of public life.”
Rheintgen is from Illinois however she mentioned she visits Florida yearly to see household and was on such a visit when she engaged in her protest. She mentioned that she didn’t see herself as an activist earlier than, however she felt like she needed to be one now.
In her letter to Florida representatives, she included a photograph of herself as a result of, with out it, she didn’t suppose officers would be capable to inform that she was the individual breaking the regulation.
“I do know that in your coronary heart that transgender individuals are human too, and which you could’t arrest us away,” Rheintgen wrote.
This text initially appeared in The New York Instances.
