North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory defended his state’s controversial new that blocks transgendered people from using the public restroom of their choice, telling Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Thursday night the law is about protecting privacy and children.

“When [someone’s] daughter or son goes into a facility, they expect people of that gender — that biological sex or gender — to be the only other ones in that,” the Republican governor told the host of “The Kelly File” in a contentious exchange.

"The Obama administration is now putting requirements on federal money given to states [so] that they also have to have this gender identification requirement for schools
— North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory

The law, known as the “bathroom bill,” has prompted a firestorm of criticism, from companies including PayPal, which canceled plans to open a 400-employee global operations center in Charlotte, to artists including Bruce Springsteen, Demi Lovato and Pearl Jam, who have refused to perform in the Tar Heel state. In addition, President Obama has called the law “wrong.”

Proponents say the law is necessary to keep perverts from posing as transgenders to enter restrooms to peep at the opposite sex. Kelly told stalls in women’s restrooms provide enough protection for people concerned about abuse of the law, and added that most male child molesters attack people they know, not strangers in a public restroom

“I’ve been in women’s bathrooms my whole life, and we don’t have the urinal situation; we’ve got like, the stalls,” Kelly said. “We get to go in and we do our business, and we don’t see each other. So why are you concerned about girls exposing themselves or seeing somebody else exposed in a woman’s bathroom?”

McCrory said his state has drawn a line in the sand, and accused Obama of planning to force its bathroom policies on public schools.

“The Obama administration is now putting requirements on federal money given to states [so] that they also have to have this gender identification requirement for schools,” he said.