College student Marcy Rheintgen was arrested for washing her hands in the women’s restroom at the Florida Capitol. But she already expected that to happen.
The 20-year-old sent a letter to Florida lawmakers roughly a week before her arrest stating the date and time she would be using the bathroom. Rheintgen intentionally violated a 2023 law that requires people to use the restroom that aligns with their sex at birth in state-owned or leased buildings.
“I am violating this law because I personally believe it to be wrong,” Rheintgen said in the letter, in which she attached a photo of herself so officials could identify her.
She was sent to a detention center where she stayed overnight in the men’s ward. Rheintgen could face up to 60 days in prison if convicted.
Rheintgen shared a photo of her affidavit with Erin in the Morning, where she is referred to by her deadname and identified with the wrong pronouns.
Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith released a statement on Rheintgen’s arrest, calling the bathroom law a tactic of “intimidation.”
“The arrest of Marcy Rheintgen is not about safety. It’s about cruelty, humiliation, and the deliberate erosion of human dignity,” Smith wrote. “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.”
Smith also wrote that trans bathroom laws are vague and unenforceable. This is likely the first arrest made in Florida since the law was enacted.
At least 14 states have put laws in place banning trans women from using the women’s bathroom in public schools and government buildings. Only Florida and Utah have criminalized it.
When Rheintgen arrived at the restroom, she was given a verbal warning not to enter, to which she responded: “I am here to break the law,” according to a police report. Rheintgen entered the restroom and was given a trespassing warning. Moments later, she was arrested.
Rheintgen noted in her letter to lawmakers that she isn’t a political activist or influencer, but rather “just a normal college student who thinks this law is wrong.”
Rheintgen closed out her letter by stating that she’s just like those who enacted the law –– a person trying to live their life.
“I know that you know in your heart that transgender people are human too, and that you can’t arrest us away,” Rheintgen wrote. “I know that you know in your heart that the same people that go to church with you, eat in the same restaurants, go to the same schools, root for the same sports teams, watch the same movies and pray to the same God as you cannot be all bad. I know that you know that I have dignity. That’s why I know you won’t arrest me.”
