Last week, Jasmine Gallup wrote about the state’s newly introduced, luckily bound-to-be-vetoed “Don’t Say Gay” bill and the impact it could have—and is potentially already having—on LGBTQ students and the teachers who care for and try to include them. Two readers, including one Raleigh city council candidate, James Bledsoe, got into a spirited exchange over the story, and the bill, on Twitter. We found their conversation enlightening and a little humorous and so are sharing it here.

INDY Week tweet: ​​North Carolina’s newly introduced House Bill 755, or the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is part of a much larger conservative movement to crack down on LGBTQ rights.

@JamesGBledsoe1: Except no part of the bill says you can’t say the word gay, just that you can’t sexualize children.

@Mflevy39: A child with two moms or dads would not be able to speak to teachers about their parents if this passes. This has nothing to do with sexualizing anyone.

@JamesGBledsoe1: That’s what school counselors are for. This would prevent the school teacher from taking on that role, not the child. I can’t think of a child that is mindful of current laws. The teacher could just notify the school counselor of the issue and schedule a meeting. Case closed.

@Mflevy39: How very juvenile of you.

@JamesGBledsoe1: That’s the proper chain of authority for the subject matter. Student notifies teacher, teacher notifies counselor, counselor notifies parents. That’s not juvenile, thats the way it should be.

@Mflevy39: Under this BS law that would not be allowed.

@JamesGBledsoe1: Under this law, parents wouldn’t have to worry about teachers telling childeren that it’s ok to be the opposite gender when their biology says otherwise and that men can get pregnant. Sounds like a fantastic deal. Your right, it makes me homophobic to not want kids to be introduced to sex at a young age. The only people that want to make sure kids are introduced to sex as early as possible are pedophiles.

@Mflevy39: How is Susie talking about her two dads sexual in anyway? Should Peter, who has two moms, not be allowed to take both of his mom’s to a Mother’s Day celebration?

The only people talking about sexualizing kids are straight homophobes.

@JamesGBledsoe1: The kids are still allowed to do that. Just not with the teacher. Thank you for proving my point.

@Mflevy39: Only in your mind.

Who’s right? This bill is such a mess it’s not really clear how it would be enforced, but it is clear that it is bad. That’s why we called it HB 2 2.0.

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