Catholic Bishops join critics against Obama's transgender bathroom policy

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee chairmen have released an official statement criticizing President Barack Obama's recent transgender bathroom order, which states that transgender students should be allowed to use the bathroom according to their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

"The guidance fails to address a number of important concerns and contradicts a basic understanding of human formation so well expressed by Pope Francis: that 'the young need to be helped to accept their own body as it was created," the statement read. The document, which was published Monday, May 16 on the USCCB site, was issued by Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha, Nebraska, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education; and Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, New York, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

The bishops argued that children should understand God's love for them and their intrinsic worth and beauty especially at a young age and in school. They stressed that the Catholic Church is looking after the dignity of every human person particularly the most vulnerable.

The bishops also expressed support to the dissenting parents and students who are placed in difficult situations and whose needs for privacy and security are unfortunately neglected by the guidance. "The guidance short-circuits those discussions entirely," read the statement.

Their sentiments echoed the statements of Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last week, shortly after Obama issued a directive subjecting public schools to comply with the transgender bathroom bill.

"President Obama, in the dark of the night — without consulting Congress, without consulting educators, without consulting parents — decides to issue an executive order ... forcing transgender policies on schools and on parents who clearly don't want it," Patrick said in an interview with NBC 5.

The Texas governor also announced during the Republican Party convention at the Dallas' Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center that he's already in contact with his North Carolina counterpart, Pat McCory, to discuss possible steps to combat the government-decreed bathroom policy.