LAURENS COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A conversation has begun in Laurens County, through billboards.

For the past month a sign stood along Interstate 385 that said, “Rejoice! God loves trans kids.”

Now, a new sign has taken its place.

“In order to root out confusion, and especially the sexual confusion we see in today’s world, we have to go back to God’s word,” said Luke Rankin, chairman of the Laurens County Republican Party.

The Laurens County Conservatives have been raising money to replace the sign with one of their own, reading “God made them male and female.”

This is something the group called Alliance for Full Acceptance (AFFA), who are the organizers of the original billboard, said is dividing South Carolinians. 

“There are trans people in Laurens County, there are trans people in the Upstate, in the Midlands, in the Pee Dee, the Lowcountry…we are everywhere, we are everywhere,” said Chase Glenn, executive director of AFFA. “We are a part of the state, we are citizens, we are a part of your communities, we are in your churches, in your schools…we are everywhere.”

Rankin said he’s received a large response from Upstate residents about the new billboard.

One that he said is reassuring him.

“It gives me hope to know that people are still willing to stand by what is right,” said Rankin.

But AFFA said they too have received a large response, one that Glenn said confirms to him that his message is needed. 

He hoped the conversation that has sparked from this can come off the billboards and be had face to face.

“To anyone who feels like they need to put up a billboard that is in direct opposition to our message of hope and love, maybe they could sit down and have a conversation with a trans person, sit down and have a conversation with someone who is LGBTQ and see what comes of it,” said Glenn. You’d probably have a lot more in common than you realize.”

The Laurens County Conservatives campaign said they are in the process right now of planning for more billboards to go up.

If you would like more information about that campaign, click here. If you would like more information about AFFA, click here.