The Obama administration will tell U.S. public schools on Friday that transgender students must have access to bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

The joint guidance (pdf) from the Departments of Education (DOE) and Justice (DOJ) “sends a clear message to transgender students across the country,” said Vanita Gupta, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division: “Here in America, you are safe, you are protected, and you belong—just as you are.”

“As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students to ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.”

The document does not lay out any new policy or propose any new law, but “makes clear that both federal agencies treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX,” according to a DOJ statement.

The federal anti-discrimination law in education, Title IX, says that schools receiving federal funds may not discriminate based on a student’s sex.

As such, the New York Times notes, the letter “contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.”