Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson spoke Tuesday about transgender individuals’ access to homeless shelters, saying women “were not comfortable” being in a shelter with “somebody who had a very different anatomy.”

Testifying before a House subcommittee, Carson was reportedly asked by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) about the removal of HUD training materials that help protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, by guiding homeless shelters on how to ensure access to shelters for transgender people.

“[We] obviously believe in equal rights for everybody, including the LGBT community. But we also believe in equal rights for the women in the shelters, and shelters where there are men and their equal rights,” Carson responded. “So we want to look at things that really provide for everybody and doesn’t impede the rights of one for the sake of the other. So it’s a complex issue.”

Last year, HUD removed guidelines from its website meant to provide training to homeless shelters on how to ensure equal access to transgender people, Newsweek reported earlier this year. In March, activists filed a lawsuit against HUD seeking documents to determine whether the Trump administration was directing federal agencies to undermine efforts to protect LGBTQ Americans.

In July 2017, a group of Democratic senators wrote in a letter to Carson that the removal of the HUD resources around LGBTQ rights was “concerning,” and asked that the agency restore them to its website. Read more via HuffPost