Obama’s Transgender Decree Must Not Stand

Even conservatives accustomed to a president who regularly exceeds his constitutional authority were surprised by Friday’s announcement. Obama’s White House sent a letter to all public schools, demanding they let transgender children use the bathroom of their choice. Days after suing North Carolina, the Obama administration now wants to make their position clear for all states: Whatever they say the law is, that’s what it is.

Even if it isn’t.

Even more astonishing is the propaganda they’re using to promote this directive. Attorney General Loretta Lynch had the gall to compare transgender bathroom rights to the struggles black Americans have faced in the past. She referenced Jim Crow laws and the Emancipation Proclamation, creating an argument that’s as offensive as it is absurd.

“Instead of turning away from our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, let us instead learn from history and avoid repeating the mistakes of our past,” she said on Friday. “Let us reflect on the obvious but often neglected lesson that state-sanctioned discrimination never looks good in hindsight.”

This drew a harsh rebuke from the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP). Talking to Breitbart News, Rev. Bill Owens said:

“There is simply no relation between the struggles that Black Americans have faced and the desire of a tiny minority group to violate the dignity and privacy of women and girls. To suggest some sort of equivalence is a gross insult to all of those who marched with Dr. King and faced fire hoses and hatred in the name of equality.”

Conservatives have fought back against the directive. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said, “Obama can’t rewrite the Civil Rights Act. He’s not a king.”

Of course, Abbott knows Obama’s royal delusions as well as anyone. He’s leading a multi-state lawsuit against the administration for its illegal attempt to override congressional immigration laws.

Ted Cruz, who made the transgender debate a central part of his presidential campaign in the last week or two before Indiana, said, “America has woken up to yet another example of President Barack Obama doing through executive fiat what he cannot get done through our democratic process.”

There is some debate among conservatives as to how important this transgender bathroom issue really is, but Obama’s latest move should consolidate support. Even if you think that transgender people should be able to use the bathroom of their choice, the White House does not have the power to make law without going through the legislature. It’s no longer (just) about whether or not these laws are a good idea; it’s about keeping our president within his constitutionally-prescribed limits. And when it comes to this guy, that’s a full time job.