The first case of a person being arrested for attempting to challenge Florida's antitrans bathroom law has been tossed out of court after state prosecutors missed filing deadlines.
Marcy Rheintgen, a 20-year-old transgender college student, was arrested in March for washing her hands in the women's restroom of the Florida Statehouse in Tallahassee. She was protesting the state's law banning transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. However, Leon County court records show that a judge granted her defense attorney's motion to dismiss the misdemeanor trespassing charge against her on June 20 after state prosecutors failed to file charging documents and other information in her case within a 90-day timeline.
Florida passed the Safety in Private Spaces Act in 2023. The law makes it a crime for an individual to refuse to leave a restroom or changing area assigned to the opposite sex when asked to by a government employee. It applies in government buildings.
