Trans man gets detained after using women's restroom, proving insanity of 'bathroom bills'

Luca Strobel

GLAAD award-winning substacker Erin Reed is exactly who I am talking about when I say that our community need to support independent LGBTQ journalists.

 As a gay black man, I am doubly aware of how this country's mainstream media ignores our communities while pandering to what they call "the mainstream America." They won't ever admit it, but most often than not, their definition of "mainstream America" are white heterosexuals.

As such, incidents like the one below get ignored. Luca Strobel, a 25-year-old trans man in South Carolina, was using the bathroom based upon his assigned at birth gender (which some states have laws demanding that trans people do) in Charleston, SC. He ended up being accosted and detained because of his appearance as a man.

 “They're looking over the top of the stall at me without my clothes on,” Strobel said in the video. “They can fully see me naked other than me having my shirt on, and they just start screaming that there's ‘a man’ in here.”

 He said the owner and employee ejected him and his friend from the bar—grabbing and pushing them out as they reportedly called Strobel anti-trans slurs. The police were waiting at the door, Strobel said. The officer cuffed him “so tight that I can't even feel my fingers,” Strobel said. “I still have a bruise on my knuckle.” 

Meanwhile, his arresting officer allegedly kept calling him a “little girl.” “We didn't get booked, but we did get cuffed, and when we got to the station, we were asking a bunch of questions that they refused to answer,” Strobel said. “They just kept saying, ‘Take it up in court, take it up in court, take it up in court.’” 

. . . There is no state law in South Carolina preventing a trans man (or any man) from using the women’s room in public accommodations, such as a bar. However, there has been an avalanche of anti-trans bills nationwide seeking such mandates, including in South Carolina, where lawmakers enacted a version of this policy targeting schools in 2024, and re-introduced it in 2025. 

 In other words, Strobel was using the bathroom that many conservative lawmakers and anti-trans pundits want to force him to use—and he got arrested anyway, seemingly because of the panic surrounding gendered bathrooms. This kind of harassment is no stranger to trans and gender nonconforming people—in April, a trans girl in Florida was arrested for using the women’s bathroom in an act of protest against that state’s anti-trans bathroom bill. She washed her hands in the sink before being escorted out by police. 

In February, cisgender lesbian in Arizona made headlines after documenting her own experience having police interrogate her gender while she was using a women’s restroom.

Go to Erin Reed's substack, Erin in the Morning, for the full story and information on how you can support her work.

When these bathroom bills were passed while hysteria about trans people using public bathrooms spread, there were warnings that an added consequence would be people getting verbally and physically accosted simply because they don't fit physical stereotypes of what men and women are supposed to look like. 

And now here we are.

'SCOTUS rejects appeal of student wanting to wear 'only two genders' t-shirt at school' & other Tue/Wed news briefs

Supreme Court rejects appeal of Massachusetts student who wanted to wear ‘only two genders’ T-shirt  - "On Tuesday, the justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that said it would not second-guess the decision of educators in Middleborough, Massachusetts, to not allow the T-shirt to be worn in a school environment because of a negative impact on transgender and gender-nonconforming students."   Let's be clear.  The t-shirt was a way of baiting trans students and the case itself was pushed to chip away at LGBTQ rights and safety. Both attempts failed.

Right-wing justices decry limits to speech — that they 'helped make possible' - Both Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented in the above case. The irony is how they ruled in the past against student speech put down the groundwork for how the court decided in this case. Way to go, guys. I thank you and . . . well actually I don't. 

 Donald Trump's anti-LGBTQ+ cabinet: An in-depth look - They do NOT like us.

Today we must honor the trans troops who are fighting a war waged by their own country - Hell yeah!

Utah Republicans ignore study supporting gender-affirming care for trans youth. It's research they demanded - One guess why. 

EU countries ‘alarmed’ over Hungary’s worsening anti-LGBTQ crackdown - Every country should be. The crackdown in itself is bad. But there are some folks here in America who have express support for it. 

Trump's 'Big Bowl of Bullsh!t Bill' would ban Medicaid and Obamacare from funding trans healthcare care & wreak havoc on the poor

Editor's note - EARLY Thursday morning, the House of Representatives passed what Trump calls his "Big, Beautiful Bill" by one vote. What is should be called is the "Big Bowl of Bullshit Bill." Now it goes to the Senate and I suspect there will be major changes made. Regardless, this bill is a disaster on many levels and not just to the LGBTQ community. A lot of Americans are going to be hurt, while the wealthiest Americans are going to reap benefits. The news briefs below explain how this bill would generate a lot of pain for not only LGBTQ people but the country in general.

Trump’s ‘One, big, beautiful bill’ would ban care for transgender people on Medicaid and Obamacare - Federally funded gender-affirming care would be banned. And for all trans Americans, not just trans kids. I can just hear the nonsense about "It's not banning healthcare for trans people. it's simply saying that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for it." That explanation only underscores the ignorance this country has when it comes to gender-affirming care, which is a legitimate medical issue and should be covered under Medicaid and Obamacare. Any attempt to undermine federal funding comes from a place of malice. 

Republicans pass ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ banning federally funded gender-affirming care for trans people - This article from the Advocate gives more details. It also includes the following:

 The bill would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and deliver billions in new spending for immigration enforcement and the Pentagon. But it does so at a steep human cost: The Congressional Budget Office estimates 13.7 million people will lose health coverage. LGBTQ+ people — especially those living with HIV, people of color, and low-income families — are among the hardest hit. 

And:

Below are articles which point out the overall chaos this bill would cause the country. Kamala Harris and so many others warned Americans last year about this, but they didn't listen. It sadly goes to show that you can warn people about disaster until you wear yourself out, but they won't listen until they get hit with the disaster. Then they expect someone else to save them from what they themselves could have prevented in the first place.

Here Are the Worst Things in Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill 

"This Is A Sad Day For America" — MAGA Supporters Have A LOT To Say About Trump's "Big, Beautiful" Tax Bill, And It's Not What I Was Expecting

Social Media Tells Ugly Truth About Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill'

' Trump said 'no more drag shows' at Kennedy Center, but there will be drag anyway' & other Tue/Wed news briefs

Trump claimed that because of his new board, there will be 'no more drag shows' at the Kennedy Center. But 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' a musical about a man who masquerades an elderly woman, and other shows featuring drag will be coming to Kennedy Center. Just write it down as yet another Trump misdirection.

Editor's note - It has been very clear to me that the news media won't do what they are supposed to be doing during Trump's second term. It could be that he is overwhelming them with all of his exploits. Or it could be, as seen by the emergence of that ridiculous book on Biden, that the pundits and the like covering Washington are more concerned with their careers than with giving the public sorely needed education and information. Whatever the case may be, it is crucial that LGBTQ bloggers and independent journalist work diligently to inform, educate, and rally our community during this crucial time iin history. 

Trump promised “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS” at Kennedy Center. Their new season is full of drag. -We shouldn't be surprised here. Trump misdirects and lies so much that it's like breathing to him.

WorldPride—a Massive LGBTQ Celebration—Is About to Collide With Donald Trump’s Washington - Bring it, you orange-faced bitch. 

Supreme Court backs Republican lawmaker in Maine who was punished for transgender athlete remarks - This woman targeted a trans high school student but suddenly SHE'S the victim? Please.

Gay Senate candidate Chris Pappas: The government shouldn’t limit trans people’s health care - From the article: " If U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas wins New Hampshire’s open Senate seat in 2026, he will become the first out gay man ever elected to the U.S. Senate and only the third LGBTQ+ person. But Pappas, a 44-year-old Democrat now in his third term in the House of Representatives, says his campaign isn’t about making history." 

Virginia Republican candidate for governor addresses grads at extremely anti-LGBTQ+ schools - It's a mess in Virginia. The extremely anti-LGBTQ Lt. Governor is running for governor. Meanwhile the Republican nominee for Lt Gov is an openly gay conservative who is embroiled in a scandal over pornographic pictures. Lawd, hammercy! 

Federal Judge Strikes Down LGBTQ Protections Against Workplace Discrimination - Keep your eyes open on this one. This judge has been a deliberate problem for us ever since he was picked.

Video - Man claims to KNOW that LGBTQ people are trying to create a Marxist, genderless society

I don't know the exact scenario which created the moment below. But I do know that it typifies the idiocy of homophobes. LGBTQ people have been accused of so many things from the standard lie of recruiting kids to the outrageous lie of controlling the weather. 

But I don't think I've ever heard us being accused of wanting to create a Marxist, genderless society. 

The man in the video reminds me one of those pseudo-intellectual, self-righteous individuals in college who you wasted time arguing with for 10 minutes until you've forgotten how said argument began while quietly badgering yourself for wasting time to argue with him in the first place.

And to add to the stereotype, he is wrong about his facts even though he is so damn sure of them. For one thing, LGBTQ equality will not lead to people thinking that pedophilia is a legitimate sexual orientation. Secondly, Harry Hay did not start the gay rights movement. Our movement for equality began a long time before Hay was even on the scene. In fact, if you wanted to legitimately trace it, you should look up William Dorsey Swann, a former slave and the first person to self-identify as a "queen of drag."

Other than that, I don't know what else to say except for the embarrassing truth that I don't know what Marxism is. The most radical thing I probably want to do as a gay man is to have Anne Murray sing Can I Have This Dance at my wedding.

ngl this scares ts outta me pic.twitter.com/U4YHZXUA6x

— belak🌪️ (@kalebjackson00) May 12, 2025

Transphobic ad blitz fails (former) Omaha, Nebraska mayor in election

Omaha, Nebraska mayor Jean Stothert turned her back on the LGBTQ community and fully embraced transphobia with flyers (top picture) and television ads linking her opponent, John Ewing with the standard bigoted tropes. Ewing didn't distance himself from the trans community, while challenging Stothert's ad blitz head on (bottom picture). At the end of the campaign, Ewing easily won, becoming the city's first Black mayor.

A three-term incumbent mayor (now former mayor) in Omaha, Nebraska found out the hard way that scaring people about transgender Americans can only go so far.

From Queerty:

Jean Stothert governed as a moderate Republican during her tenure as the mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, even creating an LGBTQ+ advisory board to improve her relations with the community.

 But in the waning days of her most recent campaign, the three-term incumbent leaned into anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. She ran a TV ad accusing her Democratic opponent, John Ewing Jr., of wanting “boys in girls’ bathrooms and sports,” tired transphobic lines that Republicans across the country have been trotting out for years. 

 When Omaha residents went to the polls Tuesday, they didn’t buy her fear-mongering. Ewing bested Stothert by more than 11,000 votes, becoming the first Black mayor in the city’s history. Though Omaha has more registered Democrats than Republicans, Stothert was popular and won by 27 points when she ran for re-election in 2021.

LGBTQ online publication THEM pointed out that the Ewing campaign met the ad blitz head on while not distancing itself from trans people and in one case, turning Stothert's ad blitz against her with a flyer of its own.

Stothert was generally favored going into Election Day, as a 12-year incumbent who won her last election with a whopping 64% of the vote. But in the final weeks of the campaign, Stothert and a conservative PAC blitzed Ewing and the Democrats with anti-trans ads similar to those seen in the 2024 presidential election. 

 One TV ad from the Stothert campaign claimed that Ewing “stands with radicals” in favor of “boys in girls’ bathrooms and sports,” according to the Omaha World-Herald. Separately, a mailer paid for by the newly-formed PAC Omaha Leadership Fund — itself funded by another right-wing, anti-abortion PAC called “Common Sense Nebraska” — claimed that Ewing wants to “transition minors without their parents’ consent” and is “backed by radicals who will allow men in girls’ sports and bathrooms,” as seen in what appears to be a photo of the mailer posted to the r/Omaha subreddit last week.

 Ewing’s campaign called Stothert’s claims “utterly false” and demanded that the TV ad be pulled, per the World-Herald. In a statement to the newspaper, Stothert said she had no knowledge of the mailer before it was released, but stood by the TV ad. The claims in that ad were not connected to any statements by Ewing himself, she said, but were instead based on his endorsements from the Nebraska Democratic Party and the Nebraska Stonewall Democrats, the party’s LGBTQ+ caucus. Stonewall Dems oppose LB89, a Republican bill in the state legislature that would ban trans students from using bathrooms or locker rooms, or competing on sports teams, that match their gender; legislators voted to advance the bill last month, after a similar version died as the result of a filibuster in 2024. 

 But though Ewing and the Nebraska Dems pushed back against the Stothert camp’s accusations, they also did not distance themselves from trans people . . .  On May 2, Ewing held a Q&A at Omaha gay bar Flixx hosted by local drag queen Jackie Oh Kennedy. And only a few days before the election, the Nebraska Dems posted an image to X declaring that “Jean is focused on potties,” featuring an edited image of Stothert’s face poking underneath a bathroom stall. (“Ultimately, Jean would rather focus on potties, while John focuses on fixing potholes,” Nebraska Democratic Party Executive Director Precious McKesson wrote in a May 8 press release.)

Drag queens and Pride organizers win twice in court cases against Florida's state and city governments

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

In court decisions on Monday and Tuesday, drag queens and Pride organizers won over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the state of Florida and a city in Florida.

From CBS News:

Describing the law as "substantially overbroad," a federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a preliminary injunction blocking a 2023 Florida law aimed at preventing children from attending drag shows. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, backed the Central Florida venue Hamburger Mary's in a First Amendment challenge to the law. The state appealed in 2023 after U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell issued a preliminary injunction. 

 Tuesday's majority opinion said that "by providing only vague guidance as to which performances it prohibits, the act (the law) wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most." "The Constitution demands specificity when the state restricts speech," said the 81-page majority opinion, written by Judge Robin Rosenbaum and joined by Judge Nancy Abudu.

 "Requiring clarity in speech regulations shields us from the whims of government censors. And the need for clarity is especially strong when the government takes the legally potent step of labeling speech 'obscene.' An 'I know it when I see it' test would unconstitutionally empower those who would limit speech to arbitrarily enforce the law. But the First Amendment empowers speakers instead. Yet Florida's Senate Bill 1438 (the law) takes an 'I know it when I see it' approach to regulating expression."

 . . . The law, dubbed by sponsors the "Protection of Children" bill, sought to prevent venues from admitting children to adult live performances. It defines adult live performances as "any show, exhibition, or other presentation that is performed in front of a live audience, which, in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or specific sexual activities, … lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts." It would allow regulators to suspend or revoke licenses of restaurants, bars and other venues that violate the law. Also, it would prohibit local governments from issuing public permits for events that could expose children to the targeted behavior. 

 While the law does not specifically mention drag shows, it came after Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration cracked down on venues in South Florida and Central Florida where children attended drag shows. It also came amid a series of controversial laws passed by Republicans in Florida and other states about transgender-related issues. 

 Tuesday's majority opinion focused, in part, on the use of the words "lewd conduct" in the law. It said the term is overbroad and that Rosenbaum and Abudu "understand the act's prohibition on depictions of lewd conduct to reach speech that is constitutionally protected, even as to minors."

And then, courtesy of LGBTQ Nation was a decision handed down on Monday against the efforts of a city in Florida, Naples, to limit open drag performances and charge Pride organizers a $36,000 security fee:

A federal judge has approved a preliminary injunction against the city of Naples, Florida, that will allow the annual Naples Pride event to host outdoor drag performances viewable by people of all ages. The judge also ruled that the city must re-evaluate the $36,000 security permit fee that it tried to charge the event to protect it from anti-transgender protestors. 

 Last month, organizers of Naples Pride sued the city government after the city tried to force the event to only admit adults over the age of 18 and tried to charge event organizers a $36,000 security fee. Organizers refused, stating that all drag performances will be family-friendly and that the security fee was much more than what’s required for similarly sized events or what Pride organizers were charged since the event started in 2017.

 . . .On Monday, Judge John E. Steele, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida appointed by President Bill Clinton, ruled that neither the city nor its police force can require the Pride event to move its drag show indoors.

 Steele also ruled that the city must reevaluate its $36,000 security permit fees. The judge wrote that the city’s demands “threatened injury to [the Pride organizers’] First Amendment rights,” which “outweighs the harm a preliminary injunction may cause to [the city or its government].”