LARAMIE, Wyo. — When the debate over allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice rolled into town like a high-plains thunderstorm, Laramie’s school board took its own multiple-choice test.

It faced two competing proposals. The first would let transgender students use the bathrooms matching their gender identity, aligning Laramie with the Obama administration and liberal activists. Under the second option, anatomy would dictate, appeasing conservative parents and religious groups.

It was a tough call in a community that is one part liberal college town and one part conservative Wyoming range, where some church signs cite Scripture while others quote the musician Prince. People still visit a memorial to Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered nearby in 1998.

The transgender debate here brought dozens of parents, students and residents to speak at school board meetings. Advocates on both sides gathered petition signatures. Emails poured in to the superintendent, some advocating equality and others warning of predators in the bathrooms.