Since the state of North Carolina passed a law to counter the city of Charlotte’s attempt at breaking down the gender privacy barrier in public bathrooms — a law that in essence decreed one’s equipment and not one’s feeling of identifying as the opposite gender determined the appropriate restroom for use — the state has suffered the wrath of the Rainbow Mafia. Bruce Springsteen canceled a recent concert, PayPal pulled the plug on a planned North Carolina facility, and the city of Charlotte has been threatened with the loss of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game. These politically correct critics scream that the law discriminates against the transgender “community” — i.e., 0.3% of the population. Predictably, Barack Obama’s administration has joined these thuggish extortion efforts with a “deal they can’t refuse.”

Obama’s Social Justice Department™ has upped the ante by calling the law a violation of the federal Civil Rights Act. (He wouldn’t be the “first gay president” for doing any less.) And while it’s a case that may hinge more on an EEOC regulation than actual law, the result may be a long, drawn-out legal fight between the state and federal governments. Obama is threatening to withhold federal education money from the state, placing billions of dollars at stake.

So Obama is punishing poor kids by taking education money away, all for the sake of a handful of men who think they’re women.

State Attorney General Roy Cooper long since went wobbly on the law, vowing not to defend or enforce HB2, but the Republican state legislature isn’t backing down — legislators say they have no intention of modifying the law.

While the anti-science Obama administration is ignoring human biology books by insisting North Carolina revoke its law, the Obama Department of Education is now the target of a parent lawsuit from an Illinois school district. Parents are rightly outraged that Obama ordered the school to accommodate a boy who self-identifies as a girl by allowing him to play on girls’ athletic teams and use the girls’ locker room, albeit with privacy curtains installed — for him. Just as in North Carolina, the school district was threatened with the loss of $6 million in federal funds, but in this instance parents are fighting back with the lawsuit brought by a group representing 73 parents and 63 students.

Nor is the fight to keep gender-separate facilities contained to the courtroom. The retail chain Target recently announced its intention to allow transgenders to use the bathroom in which they feel most comfortable. But instead of praise for its “progressive” stance, Target now faces the backlash of more than a million consumers who have signed a petition to boycott the store.

As Rev. Franklin Graham, who lives in North Carolina, said, “Target certainly has the prerogative to make this decision, but it’s proving to be bad for business. I’m glad people are standing up and letting them know this is wrong.”

Yet the political ramifications of this may be limited. There’s little doubt Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders will continue the Obama line favoring those with gender disorientation pathology, but presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump has been on both sides of the issue.

Perhaps the real issue is whether self-identification — irrespective of biological reality or any other reality for that matter — is not only the ultimate standard, but one enforceable by federal fiat. If it is, then why is a black man “trapped” in a white man’s body not eligible for affirmative action? Or a 21-year-old “woman” trapped in a 12-year-old girl’s body not permitted to get married? Or an 18-year-old trapped in a five-year-old’s body not eligible to vote?

It’s been said that in politics, perception is reality. But this bathroom issue shows the phenomenon is spreading.