Comedian Bill Maher told college swimmer-turned-activist Riley Gaines on Sunday that transgender citizens need some form of protection.

"I think, of course, trans is a true phenomenon," Maher said on the Club Random Podcast after Gaines alleged that transgender women are a "subset" of men. "There are some people who are — and I'm sure this is the wrong phrasing, but people know what I mean — born in the wrong body."

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"They really do feel and want to be the sex they were not born," he added. "I get that, and those people should be protected and respected."

Maher did, however, concede that "transgender" is a separate category from men and women.

"It is not the same thing as women, and you hear women all the time, and not just conservative women, who say, 'I am being erased,' and 'What I do and what I have walked through life is different enough.'"

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When it comes to epistemology, there is a difference in degree and difference in kind, according to Maher.

"When something becomes a difference in kind, we're in a different category," he said. "This is a difference in kind. It's not just a degree. So, protected, respected, and respected, by — I don't how we would do that language-wise, but ... the point of language is so we know what we're talking about."