If that sounds extreme, look at some of the organisations behind this push. For instance, the Family Research Council, an influential conservative lobbying organisation which the Southern Poverty Law Centre has designated a hate group. Last year it put out an analysis recycling every tendentious and debunked piece of pseudo-science about trans people from the last three decades, but it also advocated a five-point plan for containing the transgender movement's "assault on the sexes":

No legal change of gender markers No protection against discrimination No trans right to use facilities (changing rooms and bathrooms) matching their gender identity. No funding of medical cover A trans-free military.

In other words: a detailed programme making it so difficult for a trans person to function in public that, they hope, the majority will just give up.

Nor are these new demands. Compared to official recognition or funding for medical transition, bathrooms may seem a trivial issue. But imagine trying to live, work, shop, unsure where or even whether you can pee legally.

Politicians, mostly Republican, have bought into this. The Republican National Committee this year encouraged state legislatures to pass "bathroom bills": Republican politicians, including Ted Cruz, have come on board; Trump, who publicly invited Caitlyn Jenner to use whatever bathroom she wished at Trump Towers, stands apart. The Human Rights Council counts 44 anti-trans bills at some stage of the legislative process across 16 states.