Who is Marcy Rheintgen? Transgender student at the center of Florida's bathroom arrest case

Marcy Rheintgen , a 20-year-old transgender college student from Illinois, never set out to make legal history. But last month, her decision to walk into a women’s restroom at the Florida State Capitol has thrust her into the national spotlight — and what civil rights groups say could become the first criminal test case for transgender bathroom laws in the US.

“I am here to break the law,” she told officers stationed at the Capitol in Tallahassee on March 19, moments before entering the restroom to wash her hands and pray the rosary. What followed was swift: Capitol police, tipped off in advance, arrested Rheintgen after she refused to leave. She now faces a misdemeanor trespass charge punishable by up to 60 days in jail.

“I wanted people to see the absurdity of this law in practice,” she said. “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.”

Her quiet act of protest — walking into a restroom consistent with her gender identity — has sparked loud national debate. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, it’s the first known arrest under criminal bathroom statutes in any of the states where such laws have been passed. While more than a dozen states have passed transgender bathroom restrictions, only Florida and Utah currently enforce them as criminal violations.

Rheintgen’s decision wasn’t spontaneous. While visiting her grandparents in Florida, she wrote personal letters to all 160 state legislators, telling them exactly what she intended to do — and why.

“I know that you know in your heart that this law is wrong and unjust,” she wrote. “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.”

But they did. And now Rheintgen, once a student with little public profile, has become the face of a growing civil rights fight.

“I didn’t do this to test the law,” she said. “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.”

LGBTQ+ advocates warn that her arrest represents a chilling new chapter in the legal treatment of trans individuals. Nadine Smith of Equality Florida called it “about cruelty, humiliation and the deliberate erosion of human dignity,” adding, “Transgender people have been using restrooms aligned with their gender for generations without incident.”

If convicted, Rheintgen fears the consequences could be severe. She worries she may be jailed with male inmates, forced to cut her long hair, or even lose access to hormone therapy. Civil rights organizations say her case could set a legal precedent — and serve as a bellwether for how far states can go in enforcing such laws.

Meanwhile, Florida lawmakers who backed the legislation — Representative Rachel Plakon and Senator Erin Grall — have remained silent. In previous statements, they’ve argued the law is essential to protect women and girls in single-sex spaces.

In other states like Utah, activists have flooded enforcement hotlines with fake tips to shield transgender individuals from investigations. In places like North Dakota and Kansas, the enforcement mechanisms remain legally vague.

But in Florida, Rheintgen’s arrest has clarified one thing: the law isn’t just theoretical anymore.

She returns to court in May. Until then, she remains, reluctantly, at the center of a battle she never wanted to lead — but one that may now define the limits of these new laws.