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.

    • @[email protected]English
      0•20 days ago

      Some of it is just based on logistics. A sports venue for example would have a hard time converting their bathrooms to gender neutral, and the reality is that “men’s rooms” can be more space efficient due the focus on urinals.

      But I find it completely ridiculous when a restaurant has two single occupancy bathrooms, one marked men and one marked women.

      • acargitz
        0•20 days ago

        That’s not the logistical nightmare you make it out to be.

        • @[email protected]English
          0•20 days ago

          Not a nightmare, no, but it’s definitely a problem that needs solving. As it is you have lines out both doors. If you open both bathrooms to either gender you significantly decrease the efficiency of the “men’s room” since you’re going to have a line of people who can’t use urinals stopping people from getting to the urinals.

          You could design facilities to make it work, but our current facilities would be significantly less efficient.

          • acargitz
            0•20 days ago

            I’m sure there are civil engineers out there who can figure this out. Not worth sacrificing anyone’s rights or safety for it.

            • @[email protected]English
              0•19 days ago

              I’m presenting a perfectly valid issue and your answer is to cover your ears and say someone else will figure it out.

              • acargitz
                0•19 days ago

                I’m not saying it’s not a valid issue. I’m saying it’s not an important issue. Different things.

                To make it a bit more clear: every technology embodies values, and accepts different kinds of inconveniences or efficiencies as acceptable. For example, the GDPR accepts the nuisance of making everyone accept cookies on every website as acceptable, because data privacy is ranked as more important than that particular nuisance. The ADA makes engineers put ramps everywhere. Annoying to some, useful to others, but the value of accessibility trumps whatever nuisance is cased by the ramps.

                Rank your values. What is more important: safety and inclusivity or pee lines? And if you accept the former as a priority, then you can ask, how to best minimize the nuisance of the pee lines without compromising the other more important value. If you value small pee lines as more important than safety and inclusivity, you do the opposite. So there. That’s what I mean about “important”.