A Trans Man Used The Toilet They Demand He Use, And Got Arrested Anyway
A night out as a sober driver in South Carolina ended in handcuffs for a trans man after he used the women’s toilet, the very facility that anti-trans campaigners insist he should use. The incident, which Luca Strobel detailed in a viral TikTok video, shows the impossible situations created by the endless arguments over who can pee where. The original story was covered in detail by journalist Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning.
A sober driver’s night ends in handcuffs.
On May 16, 25-year-old Luca Strobel went to the Sand Dollar Social Club in Folly Beach to pick up his friend, Caroline Frady. After a long drive, he went to use the men’s toilet but found it had no stalls, only urinals. Left with no other option, and after a confusing chat with an employee, he used the women’s toilet, where he and Frady were the only occupants.
That’s when the situation escalated. Strobel said a man claiming to be the bar owner came into the toilet and looked over the top of the stall while he was using it.
“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,” Strobel explained in his video.
He and his friend were then physically pushed out of the bar, with staff allegedly yelling anti-trans slurs at him. Police were already at the door.
The law is a trap, not a guide.
Strobel was cuffed and taken to the local police station. An officer reportedly kept calling him a “little girl.” He was eventually released with a trespass notice and tickets for disorderly conduct and public intoxication, despite being there as the designated driver. He says he was never breathalysed.
Here is the frustrating part. South Carolina has no state law forcing anyone to use a specific toilet in a bar. Yet the political climate, fuelled by proposed anti-trans bills, creates an environment where harassment is expected. Strobel did exactly what many conservative politicians say he should do, and he was punished for it. So, what is a person supposed to do when both options lead to trouble?
It was never about the bathrooms…
This incident shows that these arguments are not about safety or privacy. They are about policing people who do not fit neatly into someone else’s idea of normal. Strobel believes staff targeted him because his top surgery scars were visible under his shirt.
He originally spoke out because he feels trans visibility is important, especially in the South. “I want people to know that we exist,” Strobel told Erin In The Morning. “I want people to know that it’s OK, that just because you live here doesn’t mean that you can’t be who you are.”
Sadly, the event has forced him to reconsider. He is now raising funds to move to a place where he can feel safe. The goal of this hostility is often to make people disappear from public life, and sometimes, it works.
