Re: Trans student's arrest for violating Florida bathroom law is thought to be a first

On 4/6/2025 12:00 AM, useapen wrote:
> A transgender college student declared “I am here to break the law” before
> entering a women’s 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.

Good!  About time.

> 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.

That's going to look good on an employment criminal background check.

> “I wanted people to see the absurdity of this law in practice,” Rheintgen
> told The Associated Press. “If I’m a criminal, it’s going to be so hard
> for me to live a normal life, all because I washed my hands. Like, that’s
> so insane.”

Absurdity is misappropriating a gender you can't possibly be.

> At least 14 states have adopted laws barring transgender women from
> entering women’s bathrooms at public schools and, in some cases, other
> government buildings. Only two — Florida and Utah — criminalize the act. A
> judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Montana’s new bathroom law.
> 
> 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’s 160 state lawmakers informing them of her plan
> to enter a public restroom inconsistent with her sex assigned at birth.

"Sex" isn't assigned at birth, it's recorded.

> 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.

Amend the law to double the penalty for premeditated violations.

> https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/trans-students-arrest-violating-
> florida-bathroom-law-thought-first-rcna199697