@fulanigirl as another educator, I 100% agree. I was running a queer middle school student group yesterday and they were asking about a lot of bills that are being proposed in states across the country, and I had to keep reminding them of the difference in bills getting proposed and passed, and how these things can or cannot actually be enforced. And also trying to answer the questions of my trans students about what that means for their safety.
It's hard because they keep getting pieces of information from the news but don't always get the full picture due to the nature of news media and also issues with media literacy. A lot of misconceptions combined with very legitimate concerns, which is similar to what was happening with the folks you spoke to.
We've got a lot of work to do.