I missed this news somehow (the article is from July 1st):
A judge has thrown out the case of a 20-year-old trans woman who was arrested in Florida for washing her hands in a women’s bathroom.
Prosecutors reportedly failed to meet the deadline for filing charging documents against Marcy Rheintgen after she was arrested while protesting the state’s anti-trans bathroom ban. A Leon County judge granted her lawyer’s motion to dismiss the misdemeanor trespassing charge.
In case you didn’t know the background:
In March, Rheintgen informed Florida lawmakers of her plan to enter the state’s Capitol building and use the restroom, even including a photo of herself so they knew who to look for. She never thought police would actually arrest her, despite the fact that the move broke the 2023 law.
…
Nevertheless, two cops met her at the restroom, but she decided to go in anyway. At first, they told her they would just give her a notice to appear before the judge. But they then reported she became “sassy” and indicated she may use the women’s bathroom again, so they arrested her.
…
Florida’s bathroom ban criminalizes anyone who uses a toilet or changing facility that doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth. It applies to public schools, universities, parks, prisons, and other government buildings but not to businesses and healthcare facilities.
The law only applies to facilities run by the state, but transgender and nonbinary Floridians have nonetheless been confronted, harassed, and intimidated in public restrooms located inside private businesses.
yeah, it was an intentional act of civil disobedience, though she might have a different view on that. She is a conservative Catholic who believed if she prayed and appealed to her fellow conservatives’ consciences, they would … just not uphold the hateful laws they created to target her. She was wrong, unfortunately. She explicitly has said she isn’t an activist.