Steve Parham was with his wife at a Social Security Administration office in northeast Mississippi yesterday. He was surprised to hear about the new mandate.

“I don’t think it’s right. According to my Bible, it’s not right,” he told OneNewsNow.

But according to Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, the federal government doesn’t care about Parham’s – or anyone else’s – opinion. It made the mandate de facto law seemingly overnight.

“No one knew about this particular issue,” says Staver. “This just comes out with absolutely no knowledge at all regarding what’s going on.”

The attorney says it’s a sweeping regulation, encompassing every federal building – including court houses and schools. And it was done as a regulation because, Staver says, President Obama knew he couldn’t get the move past Congress.

Staver

“There have been attempts in the … Senate and House to amend Title VII to include ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation’ – and every single time for the last decade that has come up, it has always failed,” he points out.

Staver says the courts could eventually step in. “There’s a legal remedy to be launched and there’s certainly challenges that are pending on this particular issue,” he explains, “[but] it’s going to take a while for those to go through the court system.”

Steve Parham is unwilling to wait. He said he’s not so much concerned with transgender people, but with others who may enter a public bathroom with more nefarious intentions.

“A pedophile,” he elaborates. “That’s why we tote .45 automatics. Wanna see mine?”