We all know what this symbol means:
Two people are not allowed to share an iPad.
Just kidding. It means the lavatory in the airplane is occupied. Also that it can be used by persons of either gender.
Which gender you are is of no concern to the airline. Or to the lavatory. Because it doesn’t matter.
The fact that lavatories outside airplanes generally sort visitors by gender is also not a big deal. They’ve done that for a long time. To my knowledge this is a matter of custom more than of law.
But for some damn fool reason, “conservative” legislators (you know, the kind that supposedly don’t like new laws and bigger government) in North Carolina, which was my home state for two decades, decided to pass the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, which was meant to overturn a piece of local legislation in Charlotte prohibiting operators of public facilities from discriminating on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Much freaking out has ensued since then. All of it could have been avoided if conservative sympathies actually applied. Meaning, leave well enough alone.
Or just don’t be stupid and pigheaded, which North Carolina’s legislature and governor are clearly being right now.