With a few strokes of a keyboard, President Obama is seeking to change the daily experience of thousands upon thousands of schoolchildren by ordering all U.S. schools to allow transgender students access to the restroom of their choice.

The directive from Obama moves from aggressive to cruel.

Close

He sent a letter stating his progressive decree to the nation’s schools Friday morning — threatening schools not just with legislation but with a loss of funding if they fail to comply.

The New York Times had an early copy of the letter, from which it excerpted the following, which essentially bans the one-stall bathroom option: “A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so.”

“It does not have the force of law,” The Times reports of the letter, “but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.”

The letter is addressed to all schools that receive federal funding, including 16,500 school districts and 7,000 colleges, universities, and trade schools. It also applies to charter schools, for-profit schools, libraries, and museums that receive federal aid, USA Today reports.

One Boston, Massachusetts, father told LifeZette that he was “stunned,” and said, “I need to call my kids’ school and get the facts, but we will not be quiet in the face of this. My first reaction is to say that Obama was scared by the pushback that Americans gave Target when they essentially did the same thing to their customers. He knows that the way to subvert the will of the people is to use the power of his office. But it feels like a tantrum, in the face of North Carolina and the Target situation.”

It gets worse — The students don’t need a medical diagnosis or any sort of professional input to make this happen.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plpIbAOycPU]

As soon as a child’s parent or guardian communicates a gender identity to the school that “differs from previous representations or records,” according to the letter, the child is then to be treated accordingly — without any requirement of medical diagnosis or birth certificate. It says that schools may, but are not required to, provide other restroom and locker room options to students who seek “additional privacy” for any reason.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

On Friday, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pushed back on the Obama decree, blasting the administration for its move.

“We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States,” Patrick said in a press conference. “We will not sell out our children to the federal government. And the people of Texas and the legislature will find a way to find as much of that money as we can if we are forced to. There is no compromise on this issue.” Patrick added that the debate over bathrooms “is the biggest issue facing families and schools in America since prayer was taken out of public schools.”

The schools are not required to offer another option to students who might be uncomfortable with having an opposite gender person in the next stall next to them. This is where the directive from Obama moves from aggressive to cruel — considering that those impacted are children.

The overwhelming majority of American schoolchildren and their parents, not to mention states’ rights, are being tossed aside in the liberal obsession with allowing a tiny minority of students to define the policies and practices of taxpayer-funded education.

The letter from Obama also states that America’s schools are required to comply “even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns,” according to The Times, throwing out any parental concerns and objections.

Related: Targeting Target Over Transgender Kowtow

The president, moreover, risks the quality of education and the physical and emotional safety of students in school districts that do not comply with his whims, with the implication that funding will be withheld from schools found to be in noncompliance.

The Times writes that Republicans may object that “the federal government is wading into local matters and imposing its own values on communities across the country.”

That’s a wild understatement. Parents, students, and whole communities — as well as lawmakers concerned with the progressive takeover of the nation — will definitely object to yet another instance of Oval Office overreach that shoves aside any concerns the bulk of the citizenry will have.

The president’s order follows the recent federal lawsuit aimed at North Carolina for not immediately caving to the progressive bathroom agenda. Using the tired old chestnut of comparing gay rights issues to civil rights struggles, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said to reporters last Monday, “It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had other signs above restrooms, water fountains, and on public accommodations, keeping people out based on a distinction without a difference. We’ve moved beyond those dark days.”

The president’s letter is a decree. Decrees are what rulers issue — which gives all Americans a clear and lasting idea of how this president views himself, the rest of us, and our children, and will until the day he leaves the White House.

This article has been updated.