Obama Issues School Rules on Transgender Bathroom Access

President Barack Obama's administration wrote to schools across America Friday telling them transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice, firing the latest salvo in a politically-explosive battle over civil rights.

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The move follows the decision by Republican lawmakers in North Carolina to implement a controversial law that requires transgender people to use restrooms that match the sex on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity.

"No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus," Education Secretary John King, Jr. said in a statement to the newspaper.

Although the letter does not have the force of law, it contains an implicit threat to public schools that ignore the government's instructions. Those schools would risk lawsuits and a loss of federal aid, the New York Times reported.

Last week the Justice Department sent a letter to Republican Governor Pat McCrory informing him that “House Bill 2” violates sections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This violation could jeopardize billions in federal education funding, however the White House confirmed Thursday that the state won’t lose that money.

The law has been at the center of a debate over equality and privacy freedoms and is seen as discriminatory against gay and transgender people in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court last year ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

LGBT activists in North Carolina and across the country have been protesting the discriminatory law. They have been supported by celebrities, businesses and organizations who have all threatened boycotts and canceled appearances in the state.