Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin and the hosts of Fox & Friends on Tuesday expressed outrage and confusion after California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a transgender rights law, allowing students to choose which gender identity they prefer.

“I don’t know where to start on this, Michelle, because there seems to be so many questions around this,” host Clayton Morris observed. “Is this children who consider themselves a different gender and have not gone through some sort of surgery? Is it a child who is conflicted about their sexuality and chooses one day to use the boys’ bathroom as opposed to a girls’?”

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“There is such an impetus to pander to political correctness,” Malkin explained. “I think this is social engineering run amuck. Apparently according to the bill that was signed, transgender is defined anyway they way to! As long as a child has the self-perception that they are transgender, they will be able to go into any bathroom that they want. Really, I think it’s a usurpation of local, parental and community control.”

“Five-year-olds are now exposed to — I don’t know — ‘What is transgender? Hey mommy, what is transgender? Am I transgender?'” co-host Eric Bolling asked, adding that it was “very scary, slippery slope.”

“And also, we know that kids like to pull pranks,” co-host Gretchen Carlson pointed out. “Can you imagine now, the boys want to go into the girls bathroom and the girls want to go into the boys bathroom, and they can just say, ‘Oh, well, I was transgender for the moment.'”

“I just can’t get my head around this,” Carlson admitted.

Watch this video from Fox News’ Fox & Friends, broadcast Aug. 13, 2013.

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(h/t: Media Matters)