In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement’s voice reverberated throughout the United States, demanding the termination of racial segregation. Throughout the duration of this decade, Washington D.C. functioned as a political battleground where politicians combated one another over this matter.

More than 50 years later, the nation faces similar societal turmoil as it is confronted with a new topic of controversy: gender.

The most topical instance of this debate stems from North Carolina’s passage of House Bill 2, an act that characterizes its purpose as “provid[ing] for single-sex multiple occupancy bathroom and changing facilities in schools and public agencies and creat[ing] statewide consistency in regulation of employment and public accommodations.” In more transparent terms, as North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory put things, “It’s not government’s business to tell the private sector what their bathroom, locker room or shower practices should be.”

HB2, dubbed the “Bathroom Bill,” discourages citizens from using bathrooms that do not correspond with their “biological sex”, which the legislation defines as “the physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person’s birth certificate.”

In response to the law’s discriminatory nature, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to file a civil rights lawsuit against the State of North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory, The North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina on May 9.

Lynch proceeded to draw a parallel to prior instances of segregation, recalling, “It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had other signs above restrooms, water fountains and public accommodations [that kept] people out based on a distinction without a difference.”

Following Lynch’s announcement, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education issued the “Dear Colleague Letter on Transgender Students,” under instruction from the Obama Administration, to public schools across the nation. This letter presents a new interpretation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, highlighting the fact that transgender status falls under the legislation’s prevention of discrimination based on gender identity.

What is not new, however, is the use of Title IX to punish schools who fail to abide by these instructions, which includes potential lawsuits or loss of federal aid.

As a culminating point, President Barack Obama voiced, “I think that it is part of our obligation as a society to make sure that everybody is treated fairly, that our kids are all loved, that they’re protected and that their dignity is affirmed.”

In correlation to this development, the Mequon-Thiensville School District released the “Nondiscrimination of Students Who are Transgender or Nonconforming to Gender Roles and Stereotypes” policy on May 18. This letter presents the framework of the district’s protocol for handling school situations regarding transgender students.

One of the policy’s most detailed areas of coverage is restroom accessibility. Shedding light on this notion, the policy outlines that “in most cases, a student who is transgender will be permitted to access the men’s/women’s segregated restrooms that correspond to the gender identity that the student consistently asserts at school and in other social environments,” emphasizing that each situation is on a “case-by-case basis.”

In a similar fashion, the letter addresses locker room usage as a “case-by-case basis” based on factors such as “the physical layout of the facility and the degree of undress required when changing for the applicable activity.”

On this topic, Mrs. Susan Godfrey, gym teacher, proclaimed that “though this is a tricky situation, after working with students and knowing people who are transgender, I think that they deserve the respect to be able to use the bathroom that they identify with.”

However, not everyone’s opinion will mirror that of Mrs. Godfrey’s; therefore, the district has prepared itself to confront potential criticism. With this in mind, Assistant Principal Christopher Gray disclosed that “as issues do come up, we’ll address them individually and make sure that the students who need to access that policy are supported.”

In the end, this support is essentially what the policy comes down to.

“This action is about a great deal more than bathrooms. This is about the dignity and the respect that we accord our fellow citizens and the laws that we as a people and as a country have enacted to protect them, indeed to protect all of us,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.