U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., attacked the “woke mind virus” during a speech Thursday on the Senate floor, criticizing his Democratic colleague for blocking his bill banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.

Alabama’s senior senator, who spoke in front of a poster labeled “Democrats’ Woke Mind Virus” with a thought bubble that included a transgender flag and a pregnant man emoji, slammed Democrats for protecting transgender athletes at the expense of women.

“It’s backwards, it’s disgusting, it’s downright wrong,” Tuberville said. “You’d have to be dumber than a box of rocks to celebrate this, but that’s what they did. They celebrated the handful of transgenders participating in women [sic.]”

Tuberville claimed his colleagues on the other side of the political aisle falsely portray themselves as defenders of women.

“Democrats, basically, are hypocrites – big time,” he said. “They claim to be pro-women but allow men to dress up as women and take rights away from actual women.”

Tuberville, a former longtime football coach including at Auburn, was the main sponsor of a the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which bans schools from receiving federal funding if they allow transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports.

The bill would have codified President Donald Trump’s executive orders that do the same.

Tuberville’s legislation did not move forward earlier this month after all 45 Democrats voted against advancing the bill, which failed to reach the 60-vote threshold.

A Pew Research Center Survey released late last month showed 66% of U.S. adults favor or strongly favor laws and policies that require trans athletes to compete on teams that match their sex assigned at birth.

“The woke mind virus has struck again,” Tuberville said.