TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey’s transgender students now have special protections, thanks to Gov. Chris Christie.

Christie signed legislation Friday to task the state education commissioner with accommodating “the needs” of transgender students to “ensure a supportive and nondiscriminatory environment,” NJ.com reports.

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The new law, which went into effect immediately, also bans schools from forcing students to use the bathrooms or locker rooms that correspond to their biological gender and instead requires administrators to provide “reasonable alternative arrangements if needed to ensure a student’s safety and comfort.”

The legislation follows a heated national debate about how to deal with a barrage of requests from transgender students to gain access to school facilities that correspond with their gender identity – or the gender they “feel” like.

President Obama issued a nationwide directive to public schools last year that threatened to withhold funding from those that do not allow transgender students to use whatever facilities they choose, but that edict was repealed by President Trump this year, EAGnews reports.

In addition to restroom access, the New Jersey legislation also requires that schools allow students to dress in accordance with their gender identity, requires school employees to address students with their preferred pronouns, forbids school employees from disclosing a student’s gender identity, and requires school records to reflect a student’s chosen gender identity, regardless of their legal name.

“These guidelines are needed to ensure that transgender students can safely be themselves without fear of being persecuted, and can help promote a culture of understanding and acceptance that will hopefully influence how students treat each other in and outside of school,” Democratic Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, a bill sponsor, told NJ.com.

Folks at the conservative New Jersey Family Policy Council have a different take on the measure.

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Council president Len Deo repeatedly warned that the legislation could lead to “opposite biological sex access” to areas that are supposed to be private, like changing rooms and showers, and argued against the use of “preferred pronouns.”

The Council, like many parents and taxpayers, believes school transgender policies should “be a local issue between parents, students, and the school board,” according to the news site.

That was the same perspective shared by Christie until more recently.

The governor told CNN in 2015 that “Men go to men’s rooms, women go to women’s rooms and there really shouldn’t be a whole lot of confusion about that – public accommodations.

“I don’t think we should be making life more confusing for our children,” he said.

Then in March, Christie refused to issue a statewide edict on transgender policies and argued local school districts should craft their own policies.

What changed is unclear.

“There has been no explanation as to why Christie changed his mind,” Out in Jersey reports. “The measure passed last month by a 25-10 vote in the state Senate and a 59-15-3 count in the New Jersey State Assembly.”