A South Carolina bar incident has drawn national attention and fresh concerns about trans safety in public spaces. Luca Strobel, a 25-year-old transgender man, was reportedly harassed by a bar owner and forcibly removed from the Sand Dollar Social Club in Folly Beach on May 16, despite using a restroom matching the gender marker on his ID. Strobel’s account of the incident, which he shared on TikTok, has since gone viral and spurred a GoFundMe campaign to help him relocate to California, where he says he hopes to feel safer.
The altercation began late that Friday night, when Strobel, who was sober and the designated driver for a friend’s birthday celebration, entered the men’s restroom at the Sand Dollar Social Club. He found the men’s facilities lacked privacy, with no stalls or locks, making it unusable. A female employee granted Strobel permission to use the women’s restroom. No women were present at the time.
While using the stall, Strobel says a man who identified himself as the bar’s owner entered the women’s restroom, looked over the stall door, and began yelling. “They’re looking over the top of the stall at me without my clothes on,” Strobel recounted in his video. “They just start screaming that there’s a man in here.” It’s a bitter reminder of how those who want to police trans people’s bodies in bathrooms claim they’d never know, but they always do. And when they do? They attack.
Despite having an “F” gender marker on his government-issued identification and South Carolina lacking a law restricting trans bathroom use in businesses, Strobel was forcibly removed from the stall and pushed outside by the bar owner. According to Strobel, the owner and a female employee hurled transphobic slurs at him, including calling him a “f**king weirdo.” Moments later, he says he was shoved into the hands of a police officer, who immediately handcuffed him.
Strobel says the police did not ask for his account of what happened. He described being shoved against a brick wall repeatedly, accused of intoxication and drug possession — both of which he denies and referred to as “little girl” throughout the encounter. Strobel shared that the handcuffs were tightened so painfully that he lost feeling in his fingers and that he was threatened with trespassing charges if he returned to the bar. Authorities charged both Strobel and his friend with public intoxication and disorderly conduct, imposed $500 bonds, and scheduled a court date.
This all took place in the state represented by Nancy Mace, who’s made headlines for her contradictory stances on “protecting” women’s spaces. The irony here is glaring: the very state where some politicians decry anti-trans discrimination is where it happened in plain sight.
The incident has left Strobel with physical injuries and emotional trauma. “My entire body hurts,” he said in his video, describing bruises and persistent anxiety. He has since launched a crowdfunding campaign to relocate to California, writing, “As things get scarier for trans people and after this traumatizing experience, I am certain that I can no longer live here and feel safe.”
Strobel’s GoFundMe has raised over $8,500 of its $15,000 goal as of Friday morning. His story underscores broader concerns for trans people forced to navigate discriminatory environments, even in states without restrictive bathroom laws. Recent surveys on transgender refugees highlight how anti-trans policies and unsupportive communities drive many trans people to move to more affirming states.
While Strobel plans to defend himself in court, he says his focus is on finding safety. “I just want to live somewhere where I can be myself without fear,” he says.
