South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the only openly gay candidate in the race to lead the Democratic Party, blasted President Trump for the Wednesday night decision to withdraw Obama-era protections for transgender students.

Framing the move by the departments of Justice and Education as part of a larger pattern of Trump preying on vulnerable communities like immigrants, Buttigieg noted how suicides among the LGBT community have declined since the 2013 Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

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“What kind of a bully looks for the most vulnerable person they can find to attack? If you are a transgender teenager, high school is a complicated and intimidating — well, when you are any teenager, high school is a complicated and intimidating place," he said at a Wednesday Democratic National Committee debate in Atlanta on CNN.

Buttigieg said the decision would make things even harder for "one of the most vulnerable parts of America’s population."

"If your own leaders can't tell the difference between you and a predator, if that’s what we are telling teenagers who they are, we shouldn’t be surprised that we are pushing them toward having mental health issues," he said.

Many opponents of Obama's directive, and other attempts to allow transgender people to use their bathroom of choice, have voiced concerns that it will put girls and women at risk of harassment or violence by men in bathrooms.