Fucking wild to be teaching about Rosa Parks at the same time as a trans woman in Florida does an act of civil disobedience to use a women’s restroom in the state capitol
As far as I know, she is the first woman arrested bc of this law. The law requires that the trans person be warned to leave the bathroom by a state official, and then if they stay they are guilty of trespassing after a warning.
So like, me, my gf, others just piss and nobody asks or tells, but this young woman sent a statement about the law to over 100 FL lawmakers so they would know she was coming, the cops were ready for her, she brought a reporter and went in anyway and spent the night in a men’s jail. She is out on bail, and is hoping this will inspire change of the law. But if found guilty, and the law is upheld as constitutional, then she could spend up to 60 days in a mens county jail.
Wanted to include her letter to Florida lawmakers, since i found it quite powerful.
Transcript:
“Hi, my name is Marcy Rheintgen. I’m a twenty year old college student, and I’m writing this letter to tell you that I am going to break the law. On March 19th, at around 3 pm, I intend to use the women’s bathroom on the second floor of the Capitol building, across from room 222C. I know that as a transgender woman, this means I will probably be arrested. I am violating this law because I personally believe it to be wrong. I don’t work for or am associated with any major political or media organization, I’m not a political activist, I’m not an influencer, I’m just a normal college student who thinks this law is wrong. Enclosed is a photo of me to identify me if you wish to arrest me. I understand that I could go to jail for up to 60 days in a men’s prison where, if the statistics are true, I would likely be raped. Going to jail would uproot my life and give me a criminal record. I understand that if you’re receiving this letter, you’re part of the Florida Bicameral Legislature, which means you’re probably one of the people who wrote this law or voted for it. I know that you know in your heart that this law is wrong and unjust. I know that you know in your heart that it’s wrong to arrest me and jail me for sixty days for simply using the bathroom. 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 in your heart that transgender people are no different from you or anybody else. I know that you know in your heart that the same people that go to church with you, eat in the same restaurants, go to the same schools, root for the same sports teams, watch the same movies and pray to the same God as you cannot be all bad. I know that you know that I have dignity. That’s why I know that you won’t arrest me.
I have been thinking a lot about what a cancer diagnosis used to mean. How in the ‘80s and ‘90s, when someone was diagnosed, my parents would gently prepare me for their death. That chemo and radiation and surgery just bought time, and over the age of fifty people would sometimes just. Skip it. For cost reasons, and for quality of life reasons. My grandmother was diagnosed in her early seventies and went directly into hospice for just under a year — palliative care only. And often, after diagnosis people and their families would go away — they’d cash out retirement or sell the house and go live on a beach for six months. Or they’d pay a charlatan all their savings to buy hope. People would get diagnosed, get very sick, leave, and then we’d hear that they died.
And then, at some point, the people who left started coming back.
It was the children first. The March of Dimes and Saint Jude set up programs and my town would do spaghetti fundraisers and raffles and meal trains to support the family and send the child and one parent to a hospital in the city — and the children came home. Their hair grew back. They went back to school. We were all trained to think of them as the angelic lost and they were turning into asshole teens right in front of our eyes. What a miracle, what a gift, how lucky we are that the odds for several children are in our favor!
Adults started leaving for a specific program to treat their specific cancer at a specific hospital or a specific research group. They’d stay in that city for 6-12 months and then they’d come home. We fully expected that they were still dying — or they’d gotten one of the good cancers. What a gift this year is for them, we’d think. How lucky they are to be strong enough to ski and swim and run. And then they didn’t stop — two decades later they haven’t stopped. Not all of them, but most of them.
We bought those extra hours and months and years. We paid for time with our taxes. Scientists found ways for treatment to be less terrible, less poisonous, and a thousand times more effective.
And now, when a friend was diagnosed, the five year survival odds were 95%. My friend is alive, nearly five years later. Those kids who miraculously survived are alive. The adults who beat the odds are still alive. I grew up in a place small enough that you can see the losses. And now, the hospital in my tiny hometown can effectively treat many cancers. Most people don’t have to go away for treatment. They said we could never cure cancer, as it were, but we can cure a lot of cancers. We can diagnose a lot of cancers early enough to treat them with minor interventions. We can prevent a lot of cancers.
We could keep doing that. We could continue to fund research into other heartbreaks — into Long Covid and MCAS and psych meds with fewer side effects and dementia treatments. We could buy months and years, alleviate the suffering of our neighbors. That is what funding health research buys: time and ease.
Anyway, I’m preaching to the choir here. But it is a quiet miracle what’s happened in my lifetime.
Okay I know accessibility devices are never one-size-fits-all and that there’s a use case for these somewhere, but I can’t stop imagining trying to talk to someone at a party and they look at you and move the level down a few ticks
So happy I can finally post this!!! My part for the Sunset Shimmer collab I was invited to <3 I am still so happy I was invited to take part. This was fun to draw!
My entry for the absolutely massive #MyPastIsNotToday2025 collab celebrating Sunset Shimmer! 🔥
Even though I haven’t drawn MLP in a while. It was fun returning to it! I might do some more pieces in the future. Anyway, it was fun drawing this tribute for one of my favorite ponies of the series. ✨
To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of My Past is Not Today, a good number of artists from the MLP fandom worked on a neat collab project! We all hope you enjoy and also celebrate my favourite pony, Sunset Shimmer, today!
Sup. He/Him. Here you'll find animals, jokes/puns I find funny, mlp, video game stuff, memes, geography/geography-related stuff, and other various things. I'm also known as TheLimeKnight in some circles.
(Current avatar made by askvirgothings.tumblr.com
