Summary
Marcy Rheintgen, a 20-year-old transgender college student, was arrested at the Florida State Capitol after intentionally entering a women’s restroom in protest of the state’s transgender bathroom law.
Civil rights lawyers say it is the first known arrest under such laws in any U.S. state.
Rheintgen faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge and could face up to 60 days in jail.
Florida is one of only two states to criminalize such acts.
What you people fail to realize is that this will fix the economy, once all trans people are in jail everything is going to be fucking dandy, no more overpriced eggs, no more wagestealing, no more corruption…
Bathrooms just need to be single person use. Then neither side could complain. Who wants to go to the bathroom with other people anyway?
I got a food truck bazaar near me with only one bathroom with a placard that shows the typical man/woman then a half half, and an alien reading. " Whatever, just wash your hands."
Best break down I’ve ever seen on this dumb ass debate.
Yes, I would also rather not have aliens in the restroom with me.
Seriously this. I’ve been to other places that have it figured out (Sweden in my case) and it is better in every possible way.
Well, unless you are a landlord who wants the up-front construction costs of the restrooms to be as cheap as possible regardless of how it will affect the decades of use. Or if you live in a country with no healthcare and can’t let people have privacy in the restroom because you’re afraid they’ll OD in there.
Or if you live in a country with no healthcare and can’t let people have privacy in the restroom because you’re afraid they’ll OD in there.
I don’t even want to look that up. It sounds so real it could be.
Just like removing benches in public spaces to prevent use by homeless people.
What I had in mind while making that comment was past stories of establishments putting blue light bulbs in their bathrooms to make it harder to find veins. :/
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/756976676/blue-lights-may-deter-intravenous-drug-use-in-public-spaces
Wow, I have never heard of that, but interesting idea!
“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.”
She’s an absolute legend. Thank you to her for her activism.
Brave as fuck. I’m terrified for her.
They were a nobody before, now they will be a champion of liberalism.
They probably went from nearly unemployable like the rest of us, to guaranteed a good job at a nonprofit or other company that is proudly pro trans rights. There’s no shortage out there.
They just have to survive the judicial system and the penal system, with all the free legal representation coming their way they have a shot at avoiding any jail time, and who knows how the appeals will go after florida can’t secure a settlement or guilty plea.
This is bravery, not a career step. The part about surviving of what’s comming next is too scary. Trans people in jail are already being transported to prisons of their birth gender. She’s risking a lot.
Right? The framing of that comment is very strange. Suspicious even.
The article uses she/her pronouns, which seems a reasonable choice. Any particular reason you’ve gone with they/them?
Weird to assume she is unemployable too, tbh.
nearly unemployable like the rest of us
i think they meant she was just another interchangeable employee “like the rest of us” rather than that she’s particularly unemployable for whatever reason
That’s also weird, though. “Like the rest of us” means nothing, plenty are employable, a vast majority are actually.
So, to assume they “probably went from unemployable” to winning the job lottery with a nonprofit is certainly a take.
I think (though i’m not certain) it was hyperbole. Emphasizing that the median resume would look unemployable to, like, a high paying consulting firm, like the sort that does work in DC.
Some people are gender abolitionists and prefer they/them for anyone who doesn’t specifically preclude they/them.
I dunno, still seems like misgendering someone, just with a different reason for doing so.
“I know that you know in your heart that this law is wrong and unjust,” she wrote in her letter to lawmakers. “I know that you know in your heart that transgender people are human too, and that 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.”
She wrote a letter and sent to 160 lawmakers letting them know she was going to be doing an act of civil disobedience. Let’s elevate this full letter. This is much better than any article about it. (Article is fine)
“The arrest of Marcy Rheintgen is not about safety,” Smith said. “It’s 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’s changed is not their presence — it’s a wave of laws designed to intimidate them out of public life.”
It’s not. I’m sure the conservative assholes are delighted by this aspect, but the real goal is to distract the plebs with ragebait non-issues so they don’t get upset at the actual loss of all the rights, benefits, and government services they rely on.
That’s why this gets reported, but not millions on the streets yesterday.
Marcy was absolutely right to protest this bullshit the way she did, but that’s part of the plan. It’s literally win win for conservatives. They draw attention by proposing, and enacting a bullshit law that fuels hate, the affected people go out and protest it, and draw attention to it. And in the process, fueling hate through no deliberate means. People on the fence will fall one direction or the other over this, and will always do, every time something like this happens.
I do NOT want that girl going in a man’s bathroom!! If any woman’s going to be attacked in a bathroom, it’s her… she’s young, petite and gorgeous. It’s so wrong
I don’t understand the argument for attacks in restrooms. How often does that happen in America?
And how is it that separate washrooms are supposed to prevent it? If a man is going to attack a woman ina restroom, is a sign saying they aren’t allowed in really going to stop them if no one else is around?
I don’t want people being attacked in bathrooms period. Men’s bathrooms are not supposed to be lawless dens of brutal violence, just places to fucking pee, poop and wash hands.
I’ve seen girls that looked below 10 in men’s bathroom. The women’s had a massive queue. Literaly no one cared, she went into cubicle, came out, washer her hands and left. No drama.
But I guess I live in civilised world.
She is gorgeous, but let’s not create a false bar of its ok if you’re pretty. We also have a story circulating right now in Florida about a very tall cis woman being harassed for using the women’s bathroom and BEING FIRED FROM HER JOB FOR NOT REPORTING IT RIGHT.
We all need a place to take a shit. Pretty or not.
It’s not that, it’s the fact that she can easily become a target because she’s young, petite and gorgeous. It can happen to anyone, and the law is wrong full stop.
she’s young, petite and gorgeous
That’s a weird thing to say
That is how many cis men think, and we are talking about her risk going into a space where there frequently won’t be any other witnesses.
It is not a weird thing to say, it is a relevant point.
It makes her vulnerable. It’s hard for a woman that size to defend herself against someone far bigger.
Right? Had to make sure that this wasn’t some stock photo, she’s drop dead gorgeous
Transfolk are absolutely their next big target after they’re finished removing the immigrants.
And then the gays.
And then their allies.Anti-trans is just the foot in the door.
This keeps me up at night.
You know they have no actual reason for this law aside from intimidation, threat, and leverage for the weak minds who need something to be mad at.
If anyone really cared, they would just make the hand-washing area open, and private stalls for people to do their business. No need to have Mens/Womens. Many places I have been to do this, and it just works.
But then again, there really is not a problem to solve, and the “solution” is removing trans people from society and has nothing to do with bathrooms.
They stopped that woman from peeing in a toilet.
Good job. The children are safe.
From her.
Not from school shooters tho. They are still in terrible danger from them.
But at least they won’t have to deal with that woman using the wrong bathroom.
Also not safe from being assaulted by a Republican politician in a women’s bathroom, which has happened tons more than by trans women - especially since there’s no recorded incidents of a trans woman assaulting anybody in a women’s bathroom and the group behind the claim openly said that they made it up in an interview 15 years ago.
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Why is it confusing? The woman who was arrested, Marcy Rheintgen, is a conservative Catholic who thought when push came to shove, they wouldn’t actually arrest her …
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Yes, the Catholic Church is anti-trans, but you have to understand that trans people are just like everyone else, they are subject to the same influences and pressures as cis people, and they come from the same backgrounds - from religious families, from conservative families, etc.
While trans people in the U.S. form an alliance with lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, two-spirit, and intersex individuals - this does not mean every trans person accepts the label “queer” or thinks of themselves that way, let alone how they think of other trans people. There are many self-hating trans people, and lots of trans people who hate other trans people.
Caitlyn Jenner is a Trump supporting Republican who went on Fox News to deliver anti-trans remarks about a trans athlete.
Blaire White is a Trump supporting Republican who makes a living supporting right-wing and anti-trans talking points on YouTube.
The Log Cabin Republicans are mostly LGBT+ folks who are Republicans, and they show up to support anti-trans legislation, like in the recent California vote to ban trans athletes.
I think you have to understand that labels like “queer” and “LGBTQ+” are political identities, and lots of people who are descriptively queer based on their sexuality or gender identity refuse to identify that way for political reasons. Some people remain closeted and hiding, but other people are open about their sexuality and just don’t connect the dots between their sexuality and the political struggles of people with those sexualities, refusing to identify as gay or queer and instead just insisting they’re “straight” even while openly engaging in queer sex.
Sure, it boggles my mind too, but it’s unfortunately very common. I think a lot of this has to do with the dominance one identity has, like one’s identity as a conservative or as Christian, over another, such as one’s identity as a queer person. When those conflict, it’s not surprising that sexuality or gender identity are not always the winner - especially in cases like Christianity where the religion can have a hold on your entire life (your job, your spouse, your whole family, your entire community - everything might depend on a religious identity like that and it’s very difficult to escape). This is especially the case for a binary trans woman who transitioned so young and can live as a cis-passing woman, there might be very little visible about her trans identity at that point, making it easier to live as a conservative Catholic.
Also keep in mind the Catholic Church is not a monolith. Plenty of practicing Catholics disagree with the church on one doctrinal matter of another. Plenty of Catholic women use birth control. Most Catholic couples are probably not virgins when they marry. A Catholic church is not going to physically throw you out the door if they know you’re a trans woman. If you showed up to mass dressed like you were going to a pride parade they might toss you out. But if you respectfully go there and fit in with the vibe of the place, they’ll let you practice. The worst that might happen is a particularly conservative priest might refuse you communion. But most priests would rather have a “flawed” parishioner in the pews than throw them out on the street. The whole core idea of Christianity is supposed to be that we’re all sinners. Most churches would happily let a literal murderer in the door if they confessed their sins and had paid their debt to society.
As far as why anyone would do this? Why not leave the Catholic church for a more affirming congregation? People like churches for all sorts of reasons. Some just like to worship in the high mass style found in Catholic churches. They like the robes, full choir, formal procession, and the otherworldly aspect that Catholic mass often embodies. Some like that the Catholic church places more emphasis on good works than most protestant churches. Some just like the idea of being part of an institution that has been continuously operating for nearly two millennia. For many, especially if they were raised in the church, sticking with it, even if you don’t see eye to eye on everything, is preferable to switching to a liberal protestant church. For many, it’s “my church, right or wrong.” They would rather stay Catholic and push for the church to reform than to leave the church all together.
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I don’t understand your response, why is acknowledging the political aspect to contemporary Western queer identity upsetting to you? I’m just trying to explain why queer conservatives might not identify as “queer” or “LGBT+” - because of their political associations. It’s similar to how conservatives might remain in the closet about their sexuality.
If you read the rest of the comment they’re not saying that being gay is inherently political. Queer as an identity is definitely political, it stems from activists reclaiming it in the 80s and 90s. The “we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” chant didn’t come out of thin air.
Using queer a synonym for gay or lesbian is a great way to shove your foot in your mouth by calling someone queer when they don’t identify with that term.
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No, they’re right. Lots of people hate the labels and being labelled as such, they just want to be seen as the normal person they are. It’s not normal to be labelled. In my experience, they are the quiet majority and they just want their sexual preferences to be out of the forefront of stranger’s minds, defining their social identity. It’s actually pretty fucking creepy and weird.
Some people voluntarily do want the label. That’s fine, it’s their choice. It’s not fine to involuntarily assume for others, though. Respect is something that takes the back seat to narrow-minded assumptions that ironically goes against the best intentions. In a respectful society, there are no labels and people are just people. Unfortunately we are still Neanderthalic so social and political labels, categories, etc. still exist and are assigned, for no purpose and with no consent.
Most people don’t care and want to be left alone. But there are still idiots out there that care about which toilet they can go in or which toilets others can go in. One day our society will be rid of these people and concept like LGBTQ+ will be ridden of too, because people are just people and toilets are just toilets. A person’s identity shouldn’t be defined by their genitals and what they do with them. Labels and adheration to that is just creepy and weird.
So, yeah, many people you consider LGBTQ+ are against the whole concept of LGBTQ+ and you shouldn’t assume for them or look at them as “that thing” and slap a label on. We can be so much better than this.
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I don’t understand how any person can follow that bullshit
Hegemony is social and structural, the individual is coerced into it one way or another.
Groomed is the term I would use.
They tried it on me. It didn’t stick.
Who is confused? I think most of us understand what happened and think it’s total shit.
The comment I was responding to just said they were surprised that the arrested trans person prayed the Rosary in the bathroom before being arrested, i.e. they were surprised a trans woman could be a devout Catholic. (Admittedly, I think people who do successfully transition are maybe less likely to be devout Christians, considering Christianity’s role in conversion therapy and the anti-trans movement, so it’s not entirely unreasonable to be surprised.)
When I was a younger man and lived on the road I exclusively used the women’s restrooms to shit.
They were usually cleaner.
Except for Philly. Philly punkes 20 years ago seriously used to have no rules. Or clean bathrooms.
On the road, sure.
But when I worked at a restaurant it was consistently the women’s restroom that was more work to clean.
Yeah I worked janitorial in retail years ago and the womens bathrooms were absolute war zones compared to the mens. Frankly I’ve heard the same enough times to doubt the other commenter is basing their comment in fact.
Depends. At like, rest stops and gas stations I’d believe it because the clientele will skew male, so just by sheer number you’re more likely to get people who won’t treat the bathroom with respect.
The TLA says go fuck yourself
Well it’s illegal to shoot up schools too but people still do it. I guess laws really don’t matter anymore.
Sorry, are you advocating for people to follow bullshit laws like bathroom bans? Because that’s how your comment reads.
I mean… just look at the president. He does whatever the fuck he pleases with no consequences, regardless of how illegal or immoral it is
::tummy grumbles::
::continues to sharpen pitchfork::
Supreme Court made what he does legal, though
*The right bathroom.
…using the “wrong” bathroom…
FTFY
Well the toilet is different so of course.
She did this as an act of civil disobedience and let them know in advance she was coming and was going to use the women’s restroom.
But imagine she didn’t. Instead she went to the capitol, and, following the law, used the male restroom. Just look at her. Do you think she wouldn’t have been harassed or possibly arrested for doing so?
In practice, trans bathroom bans work like this:
Use the restroom the law requires you to: get harassed, beat up, and possibly arrested.
Use the restroom that matches your presentation: violate the law, hope no one clocks you, and you don’t get arrested.
I’m a trans woman myself. You wouldn’t know it if you saw me in public. And I don’t even have any ID documents with an “M” on them. If I wanted to obey the Florida bathroom law, I would have to use the men’s restroom. But then when I inevitably caused a scene, I wouldn’t even be able to show an officer that I was just complying with the law.
Trans bathroom bans are ultimately just a means of driving trans people from public life entirely. Comply with the law? Get assaulted by some chud who thinks you’re violating the law. Disobey the law? Risk arrest for actually violating it.
There’s a reason labeling this a genocidal movement is not hyperbole.
and then there are the opposite cases, where in order to comply with the law, manly masculine men would be forced to use the women’s restrooms.
you know, with women.
especially the easily frightened at everything because they have been societally coddled and protected for the entire history of this country white women.
i don’t know. I’m not ever going to personally deal with that, but I think that if all trans people were going to comply with these idiotic and pointless laws that don’t protect the people they are written to protect the trans women probably would have it easier than trans men. I really don’t see too many men being seriously traumatized seeing a woman in the men’s room (especially when cis females have used men’s rooms with men in them regularly at places like concert venues when the line to the women’s room is long or too far away).
but then again I don’t really give a shit, just flush and wash your hands.
It’s funny how everyone forgets trans men.
My state has had a bathroom bill for K-12 schools. Every day I went to work I committed a misdemeanor that could have cost my school funding and sent me to jail.
I’ve been told that I can be comforted by the fact that trans women are the target - which, yeah, they don’t want to kill trans men. They just want to drive us out of public life and force us to either detransition or be dependent on the generosity of cis men.
can I just say as a cis male how weird it is how everyone forgets trans men exist and that everything they say that applies to trans women also applies to trans men. I’m surprised how no one has ever brought up a 14th amendment equal protection clause argument against these laws because clearly the the intent of the laws and the language of these laws was written exclusively for trans women.
We don’t really “exist” in the fucktard framework. Trans women are evil “males” (farenghi voice) who want to peep on ladies in the restroom, because that would somehow be a smarter route to being a sex pest than becoming a youth pastor. Trans men are crazy - we get a status of being perpetual teenage girls. “Tomboys” that are refusing to grow up.
They want to kill or imprison trans women, they want trans men to either be institutionalized or forced into submitting to a cis man (the number of gay trans men with boyfriends that misgender them is fucked up.)
Trans bathroom bans are ultimately just a means of driving trans people from public life entirely.
This is not an exaggeration, the anti-trans movement literally aims to “eradicate [trans people] from public life entirely”, those are their words.
Here are some citations, numbers, and evidence to back up what you’re saying and why we should view trans bathroom bans as genocidal rather than about safety, like anti-trans activists claim:
When laws permit transgender people to access sex-segregated spaces in accordance with their gender identities, crime rates do not increase. There is no association between trans-inclusive policies and more crime. As one of us wrote in a recent paper, this is likely because, just like cisgender folks, “transgender people use locker rooms and restrooms to change clothes and go to the bathroom,” not for sexual gratification or predatory reasons.
Conversely, when trans people are forced by law to use sex-segregated spaces that align with the sex assigned to them at birth instead of their gender identity, two important facts should be noted.
First, no studies show that violent crime rates against cisgender women and girls in such spaces decrease. In other words, cisgender women and girls are no safer than they would be in the absence of anti-trans laws. Certainly, the possibility exists that a cisgender man might pose as a woman to go into certain spaces under false pretenses. But that same possibility remains regardless of whether transgender people are lawfully permitted in those spaces.
Second, trans people are significantly more likely to be victimized in sex-segregated spaces than are cisgender people. For instance, while incarcerated in facilities designated for men, trans women are nine to 13 times as likely to be sexually assaulted as the men with whom they are boarded.
…
In society at large, between 84% and 90% of all crimes of sexual violence are perpetrated by someone the victim knows, not a stranger lurking in the shadows – or the showers or restroom stalls. But trans and nonbinary people feel very unsafe in bathrooms and locker rooms, though others experience relative safety there. In fact, the largest study of its kind found that upward of 75% of trans men and 64% of trans women reported that they routinely avoid public restrooms to minimize their chances of being harassed or assaulted.
These laws aren’t designed to protect cis women, they are designed to police gender (this impacts cis people too!) and eliminate trans people from public life.
Michael Knowles has a seriously punchable face
Jesus. Breaking the law is genuinely safer for you… What insanity.
Yeah, in practice, I simply refuse to travel to any state with a bathroom ban.
That alone is not the crazy part, though. Of course many laws have edge cases where you should ignore them for practical reasons in rare circumstances. But here, it’s not an edge case. It’s right there in open sight.
The harassment and danger is the point. It’s meant to drive trans people away from public spaces. It’s disgusting.
Bathroom laws are unenforceable and largely function instead like: “conform as closely as possible to gendered expectations of appearance and presentation or get the shit kicked out of you”.
This mostly affects cis women. Having broad shoulders and short hair is all it takes really. The more these laws are promoted, the more cis women who don’t conform to social body standards for women will suffer. Wearing a skirt and growing your hair long and wearing makeup every single day could legitimately become a matter of your own safety.
Biological gender essentialism is just gender roles all over again. They’ve packaged it as a way to force trans people out of society, and it does for anyone who can’t go stealth. But far more than it affects trans people, it affects cis people. They know that. That’s actually the point in the first place. They want to socially enforce patriarchy. The goal is to force women to submit to men and male scrutiny of their gender.
Short hair, yup. Short thick curly hair, hat, unique voice… Once spoke with someone for an hour and was shocked when their friend the bartender gendered them.
They might’ve been conservative too who even knows. Super important point I hope* someone popular and wealthy relays to the US president frequently. “Nobody wants
creepsin the bathroom Mr. President but my mom has broad shoulders…”(*Hopefully at +13hr after I’m safe from someone taking my hope in a reply)
Wearing a skirt and growing your hair long and wearing makeup every single day could legitimately become a matter of your own safety.
Damn. I hate how spot on this sounds.
Fuck Florida. FUCK Florida.
Conservative bitches are jealous that Marcy is hotter than all of them.
🙄OMG, let’s turn the tables and ban these conservative trolls from ALL bathrooms! Why should they have the privilege of relieving themselves when they’re relieving us of our basic human rights? They can hold it in until they burst, for all I care. Trump is literally kill ing trans people. What’s next is he gonna TARIFF them as well? 🙄
Trans girls are the true embodiments of womanhood, and these closed-minded fools are just scared of what they don’t understand. Their fear is a pathetic attempt to maintain a fake sense of power. Let’s give them a taste of exclusion and see how they like it.
Everyone else can go bathe in their own bigotry. #TransRightsAreHumanRights
What’s next is he gonna TARIFF them as well?
Hey now, don’t give them any ideas, they might tax the fuck out of HRT drugs
I’ve said this before but I really want to hear some stories of trans men using the womens bathroom in these places. Big muscular men with bald heads and beards, barging in pissing everywhere and leaving toilet seats up.
I want to see the meltdown when people find out they’re just following the law. Please trans bros do this for me.
Call your friends up for a posse when you do!!
Barge in
Woman runs out screaming to her boyfriend
RIP
[edit mainly for intl readers, this place def has some gun action going on, like anywhere but feels especially dangerous state for this civil rights experiment, as domestic readers will intuitively understand]
Being arrested certainly brings awareness to the real threat, but she didn’t think she’d be arrested. Maybe the protest would’ve been more successful by going in with a group of women saying that one of us is trans.
I believe she did think she would be arrested. But her letter points out all the reasons arresting her is biggotry. So she took away their ability to deny the bigotry of it.
This is exactly the purpose of civil disobedience.
