A gender neutral bathroom is seen at a coffee shop in Washington, DC, on May 5, 2016.
A heated national debate over access to bathrooms by transgenders is sweeping the United States, with schools and businesses grappling with the issue that has become a hot topic in the presidential campaign. The so-called "bathroom battle" erupted after North Carolina in March became the first US state to require transgender people to use restrooms in public buildings that match the sex on their birth certificate, rather than the gender by which they identify.
Mississippi followed suit in April and a number of other conservative states and cities are mulling or have passed similar legislation.
 / AFP / MANDEL NGAN        (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)