Yeah, some religions (like Judaism) are often understood as tied to ethnicity, but probably that isn't what he meant. Seems he just wants his stuff to be recognized and legally protected as part of who he is while he criminalizes everyone else's stuff.

The right wing indeed talks nonstop about a thing called "gender ideology" (which doesn't exist). I haven't tried to examine exactly how they discourse about this nonexistent "gender ideology" to exempt it from their principle of "religious liberty" (a religious freedom they intend to protect only themselves and anyone useful to them).