he’s being really shrewd here I think, he’s kind of closing the door on the most insane of the transphobe crowd and forcing them to justify their most outrageous and absurd claims if they want to criticize him for blocking this.
I imagine he’s also telling all his colleague in the party “ What the fuck are you thinking, in what world do you think this is an election winning issue to hang our hats on. We’re going to look like a bunch of freaks if we try and make this the next culture war issue!”