Transgender students cannot be forced to use a bathroom that does not correspond to their gender identity.

That’s what the Obama administration explicitly stated when it issued guidelines earlier this month to school officials across the country, marking a watershed moment for the rights of transgender people.

The move was a response to the passage of a recent North Carolina law that made it a crime for people to use bathrooms for a sex that does not match what appears on their birth certificate. The Obama administration is currently suing North Carolina, and has said the law represents a civil rights violation.

We as the editorial board believe that the Obama administration is doing the right thing by standing up for the equal rights of transgender people. There are others in powerful positions in state government in Texas and other places that vehemently oppose these guidelines, but their beliefs are misguided and discriminatory by accusing the wrong people because of their transphobic mindsets and harmful ways of thinking.

Critics of the Obama administration say that these new guidelines will make it easier for rapists to go into bathrooms and assault other people by either posing as a transgender citizen. But this is wrong; people are going to rape anyone anyways if they want to. It is just easy now as it would have been before these guidelines came out. People are shifting the blame to transgender people because they don’t understand. They are afraid of sharing the bathroom with people they perceive to be from the opposite sex.

The idea to abuse the ability to go into the restroom and pose as a transgender person has now been put into the minds of perverts. There is no one solution for this problem, we need to work together to find a solution to not only people “pretending to be trans” and raping people in bathrooms, but rape in general, which happens regardless of gender or the sign of the door. No one needs to be discriminated against or have their rights taken away.

To alleviate the concerns of those who do not understand transgender students, The Eagle’s Eye proposes converting some existing bathrooms into non-gendered bathrooms so that whoever feels comfortable using them have a place to go. It’s better than trying to add a bathroom for every gender under the sun and it would satisfy a good majority of transgender citizens.

It’s because people are afraid of this thing that they don’t understand, Obama can understand that the will deny funds because if schools deny the rights to people they don’t deserve to get funding.

For those that  are uncomfortable being in a locker room or bathroom with a transgender student should consider how most of the trans students feel when in the bathroom or locker room that they don’t feel like they belong in.

The Eagle’s Eye editorial board believes that the Obama administration is doing the right thing and is taking huge steps in the right direction for the rights of transgender students.

Despite all of the trouble the Obama administration will likely face with their political opponents, people are opposing this, not as a political statement but because of their own beliefs or fears, the issue could be more messy in politics as time goes on.

We are glad to see it take a stand and do what’s right for a group of people that are often neglected and made to feel uncomfortable for doing something so basic as going to the bathroom. The directive of Title IX is doing no harm to anyone, only other people will do that. It’s only doing good to make more people happy.