"What exactly brought about all this transgender nonsense in politics suddenly?"
It’s not ‘sudden.’
It’s merely the most recent manifestation of the fear, ignorance, and hate common to most on the right.
Conservatives, for the most part, fear change, diversity, and expressions of individual liberty – whether it’s same-sex couples marrying or transgender Americans expressing themselves as is their right to do.
As a consequence of their unwarranted fear and hate, conservatives seek to disadvantage transgender Americans through force of law – to humiliate them, to make them different from everyone else, and to drive them back into the shadows of society.
This idiotic ‘bathroom’ law in North Carolina is an example of that, it’s a ridiculous red herring fallacy contrived by the right in an effort to conceal their hatred of transgender Americans, and to foment bigotry toward transgender Americans using demagoguery and fear-mongering for some perceived partisan gain.
The unwarranted hostility directed toward transgender Americans is further evidence that conservatism is the bane of the American Nation.