North Carolina is in the headlines because of a law that restricts transgender people from using the public bathroom that matches their gender. And in the past few months, there have been at least sixteen similar bills pushed in other state legislatures. What gives? Why are we having such heated debates about public restrooms? Because we always do. As The Guardian reports, the bathroom has always been a cultural battleground: “The commode has been at the center of civil rights battles since the first modern public lavatory with flushing toilets opened in Victorian London.”

+ Not in my backyard. Or yours. From the NYT: Major companies press North Carolina on law curbing protections from bias.