Transgender student's arrest for violating Florida bathroom law is thought to be a first
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.
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.
'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.'
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.
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. 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.
'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.'
Her arrest comes as many Republican-led states that have enacted restroom restrictions grapple with how to enforce them. Laws in Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky and North Dakota do not spell out any enforcement mechanism, and even the state laws that do largely rely on private individuals to report violations.
In Utah, activists flooded a tip line created to alert state officials to possible violations of its bathroom law with thousands of hoax reports in an effort to shield transgender residents and their allies from any legitimate complaints that could lead to an investigation.
Supporters of the laws say they are needed to protect women and girls in private single-sex spaces.
Opponents such as Nadine Smith, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Florida, say they create dangerous situations for all by giving people license to police others' bodies in bathrooms.
'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.'
If Rheintgen is convicted, she worries she could be jailed with men, forced to cut her long hair and prevented temporarily from taking gender-affirming hormones.
'People are telling me it's a legal test, like this is the first case that's being brought,' she said. 'It's how they test the law. But I didn't do this to test the law. I did it because I was upset. I can't have any expectations for what's going to happen because this has never been prosecuted before. I'm horrified and scared.'
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Trump signs measure blocking California's ban on new sales of gas-powered cars
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Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Bracing for an Israeli strike
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The Associated Press' David Klepper reported that according to the around 1,500 pages of previously classified documents, the former attorney general met with the CIA in 1955 after touring the Soviet Union to relay observations about the country, all as a voluntary informant. The release of the new pages comes two months after the administration released more than 10,000 pages related to RFK's assassination. And it reflects a focus from this administration to declassify more government documents in an effort to keep the nation's intelligence agencies accountable. ZELENSKYY'S ADVOCACY: Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY is urging Trump to make up his mind about whether or not to trust the Russian government's efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine, arguing that time for peace is running low. 'Russia is simply lying to Trump,' Zelenskyy said in a Wednesday interview with the Axel Springer Global Reporters network, of which POLITICO is a member. 'Most heads of state and government share my opinion, and I very much hope that America sees and understands this. That is the most important thing. How you respond to that is America's decision.' During the same interview, Zelenskyy said he regrets how negatively his meeting with Trump in the Oval Office in February went, when Trump and Vice President JD VANCE harshly criticized Zelenskyy for not being grateful enough for U.S. support in Ukraine's war with Russia. Zelenskyy praised the later meeting with Trump at The Vatican in April as being more productive and 'friendly.' 'We were able to discuss much more than at the other meeting, which felt like it lasted a lifetime,' Zelenskyy said. IT'S THURSDAY: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily! This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at ebazail@ and follow Eric on X @ebazaileimil. While you're at it, follow the rest of POLITICO's global security team on X and Bluesky at: @dave_brown24, @HeidiVogt, @jessicameyers, @RosiePerper, @ @PhelimKine, @ak_mack, @felschwartz, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @reporterjoe, @JackDetsch, @samuelskove, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130 and @delizanickel Keystrokes NATO ON CYBER: The upcoming NATO summit this month will give countries the chance to show how they're upping their defense spending — and the Trump administration is hoping cyber initiatives will be part of the discussion. Shawn Powers, a spokesperson for the State Department's cyber bureau, told Maggie in a statement when asked about whether the U.S. would support any cyber initiatives at the summit — which runs June 24-25 in The Hague — that 'the world faces different threats than we did in 1949, and our spending requirements should reflect that. You can't stop a cyberattack with a tank.' 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DOD DENIAL: Defense Secretary PETE HEGSETH denied today that he ordered a pause on Cyber Command's operations around Russia earlier this year, reiterating an earlier Pentagon denial but contradicting a key member of Congress. 'It's false, we said it then,' Hegseth testified during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in regards to a report from February that he had ordered Cyber Command to stand down its operations on Russia. The Pentagon denied this report days later, but Rep. DON BACON (R-Neb.), chair of the committee's cyber subcommittee, said last month that he understood the pause had lasted a day. The Complex THE BEST OF HEGSETH: Hegseth today wrapped up his multi-day spree of testimony on Capitol Hill, as he and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. DAN CAINE work to convince lawmakers that the military merits a major ramp-up in funding via the reconciliation process. Our Defense team closely watched the various Armed Services and Appropriations committee hearings this week. 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Broadsides MEANWHILE AT THE IAEA: While Israel seems poised to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, the U.N. nuclear watchdog is slamming Tehran for not complying with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The resolution from the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors was expected. It accused Iran of not providing the IAEA with complete information about its nuclear facilities and the state of its nuclear program. And the resolution, per The New York Times' Steven Erlanger, could serve as the pretext for the U.N. Security Council to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. Tehran, for its part, is doubling down. It slammed the IAEA, saying the resolution 'completely called into question the credibility and prestige' of the agency, and vowed to launch a new enrichment site. Transitions — Trump's top Africa diplomat, TROY FITRELL, is stepping down in mid-July, Semafor's Mathias Hammer and Yinka Adegoke scoop. Fitrell's departure follows the removal of Major General JAMI SHAWLEY, the top White House Africa official, from the National Security Council and the merger of the NSC's Africa and Middle East offices. — DANIEL WHITE is now chief of staff at Metropolis Technologies. He most recently was deputy assistant secretary for strategy and policy planning at the Department of Homeland Security. — HENRIETTA LEVIN is now senior fellow for the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She most recently was deputy China coordinator for global affairs at the State Department. What to Read — Jamie Dettmer, POLITICO: Will Netanyahu never learn? — Ian Cloud, Responsible Statecraft: The terrible cost of bringing Ukraine's bodies home — Kori Schake, Foreign Policy: Congress Must Constrain Trump Tomorrow Today — National Institute for Deterrence Studies, 10 a.m.: 'The Implications of a Nuclear Armed South Korea.' — Jerusalem Fund, 12 p.m.: Vietnam Then, Palestine Now: U.S. Subversion of Liberation Movements — George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, 3:30 p.m.: A book discussion on 'The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia's Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing.' Thanks to our editors, Heidi Vogt and Ester Wells, who always escalate conflicts about this newsletter unnecessarily.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
DeSantis omits references to LGBTQ, Hispanic communities in latest Pulse remembrance
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) didn't directly reference LGBTQ or Hispanic people in an annual order issued Thursday to honor the victims of the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, a substantial omission that echoes recent actions by President Trump's administration against diversity and inclusion. DeSantis, who has led the state since 2019 and sought the 2024 Republican nomination for president, has mentioned the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities — the groups most devastated by the attack that killed 49 and injured dozens more — in near identical orders issued during each of his last five years in office. In those statements, DeSantis called the massacre 'a horrific act of terrorism against the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities.' Thursday's order says the attack was 'a horrific act of terrorism' without mentioning any specific groups. In 2019, his first year as governor, DeSantis was forced to issue an amended proclamation after an initial statement that also omitted references to LGBTQ people attracted widespread backlash. He said at the time that he was 'not involved' in drafting the first proclamation and requested his office issue a new one once he became aware of the exclusion. 'Sometimes these things happen, and you've got to correct them,' DeSantis said during a 2019 news conference on an unrelated matter. Multiple spokespersons for the governor did not return a request for comment on this year's omission or say whether the office would issue a new statement. Florida has recognized 'Pulse Remembrance Day' each year on June 12, the date on which the 2016 attack occurred, since its creation in 2018 by former Gov. Rick Scott (R). Now a U.S. senator, Scott said in his original proclamation that the state 'continues to mourn the tragic loss of life and recognize the lasting impact it has on our state and communities, including Florida's LGBTQ community.' In a statement on Thursday, Scott called the shooting, one of the deadliest in U.S. history, 'an act of terror targeting Orlando's LGBTQ and Hispanic communities.' A statement from Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Florida's former attorney general who DeSantis appointed to replace Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Senate in January, makes no mention of LGBTQ or Latino people. DeSantis's decision to delete references to the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities from his annual order mirrors Trump administration efforts targeting diversity and inclusion and LGBTQ rights. References to diverse historical figures, including Jackie Robinson, were removed from government websites in an initial purge related to Trump's executive orders against DEI and 'gender ideology.' Last week, reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to rename an oil tanker named for the assassinated gay rights activist Harvey Milk. The Navy is also considering renaming other ships named after prominent civil rights leaders, including Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall and Lucy Stone, according to a CBS News report. DeSantis has also campaigned against diversity efforts, frequently saying that DEI, which stands for 'diversity, equity and inclusion,' actually means 'discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination.' Laws signed during his tenure, including one forbidding classroom instruction on sexuality and gender, have been criticized for targeting the LGBTQ community. 'Governor DeSantis's erasure of the LGBTQ+ and Latino communities today may say a lot about what kind of person he is, but it doesn't change the fact that those were the communities most directly impacted at Pulse,' said Brandon Wolf, a Pulse survivor who serves as spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy organization. 'His erasure doesn't change the fact that families have empty seats at dinner tables, friends have missing faces at birthday parties, and our communities still bear the scars.' 'Today, rather than letting the governor's petty political cowardice write our story, I hope people choose to remember those stolen and impacted, reflect on the costs of violent hate, and recommit to honoring those we loved and lost with action,' Wolf, who lost two friends, Drew Leinonen and Juan Guerrero, in the shooting at Pulse, said in a text message. Florida state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat and the first openly gay Latino person elected to the Legislature in 2016, called DeSantis's omission 'a petty slight.' 'The Governor's on again, off again acknowledgment of those impacted by the Pulse shooting shows he cares more about scoring political points in the moment rather than showing authentic solidarity with his own constituents,' Smith said in an emailed statement, speaking on behalf of the LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida, for whom he is a senior adviser. 'Either way it would be a mistake to focus on the Governor's bigotry and exclusion. That's already well-known,' Smith added. 'Today is about remembering the 49 taken by gun violence, as well as remembering the strength and courage of those who survived and the families impacted. They will not be erased.'
