February 27, 2023 . Opponents said they believed the main purpose of the book was "to promote various agendas" related to the LGBTQ community in an attempt to "make it more acceptable in the mainstream. At a luncheon for Republican women in Mesa County, Colorado, last week, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., warned that educators are putting litter boxes in schools for people who identify as cats.. As he argued for the resolution in a public meeting, Shea said, Weve literally got kids who think theyre cats and dogs using litter boxes in classrooms. Shea did not respond to requests for comment. In 2021 and 2022, various American conservative and far-right politicians and media personalities promoted the hoax in response to . Shetold The New York Times on Jan. 23 that she was a "concerned mom" whodidn't feel she knew enough about what was going on at her child's school. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. On Jan. 20, Meshawn Maddock, the co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, advanced the rumor, posting on Facebook that Kids who identify as furries get a litter box in the school bathroom, with a link to a parent activist group. Isla Bryson: Why are trans criminals put in Scottish women's prisons? Many kids learn in different ways - some are more visual while others absorb information better if they read about it, but everyone learns best when they are comfortable and at ease, and for one teen in Australia, that means acting like a cat.. These people will hiss at you or scratch at you if they dont like something youre doing.". The claim: A Michigan school put litter boxes in bathrooms for students who identify as cats A video of a central Michigan school board meeting went national in mid-January after a parent. An appeals court also recently upheld one Florida high schools policy of forbidding transgender students from using the bathroom of their acquired gender. Not everyone supported the policy changes, with a group protesting them outside district offices in April. But this story is real. Im just embarrassed by what this has gotten to," she said. website:https://t.co/MPw6FiMrm1. The woman'sname is Nano and she was 20 at the time the images were captured, according to the reports. The fandom is centered around an interest in anthropomorphism, or human characteristics given to animals, according to Sharon Roberts, co-founder of a furry research group called Furscience. Netflix's new show is a slow-building horror-drama with Lovecraftian elements. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Inthe Dec. 21, 2021, YouTube video, which now has more than 91,000 views, a woman said during the Midland Public Schools board meeting that she was told there wasa litter box in the bathroom of at least one local school for students who self-identify as cat "furries" people who adopt and identify with an anthropomorphized animal persona, often within online or local communities of furries. Other students felt threatened by the furries, who would hiss at you and scratch at you if they dont like something youre doing, the report said. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. Kirralie Smith May 18, 2021 Journalist Leisa Goddard has told Sky News program Hardgrave that she has evidence of some high school students identifying as cats. Many people are doing what amounts to an experiment on these young people without telling them its an experiment. A TikTok user in a video that has gone viral claimed falsely that she was fired from a school after failing to respect a student's decision to identify as a cat. Accessed 5 Apr. NBC News spoke to three school-age furries who have posted on TikTok about the experience of being a furry at school. There is no evidence that any school has deployed litter boxes for students to use because they identify as cats. 2022. The rumor of litter boxes in schools appears to have begun among parents on social media, and one of the first schools to confront the falsehood was in Canada last fall. Well, not a little bit, a lot a bit upset furious; I would even use that word, Hansen said. You cansubscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here. This is the world we live in today, and this is the danger created by normalizing transgender delusions in young students who may get over it. READ MORE:Anti-monarchy activists 'turn Buckingham Palace into polling station', But no, the school, the school resources and the other students and teachers should not have to be put through that because its a lie and we have to reject them.. - pattesdechat.com, Another Viral Story Claims A Student Identifies As A Cat Pain In The Bud, Cat On The Street: What Do You Think About Humans Identifying As Felines? I dont want to lose readers by wading into a political landmine field, but most importantly I dont want anyone to feel unwelcome on this site. Last January, the superintendent of Midland Public Schools in Michigan was forced to address community members on Facebook after the rumour took hold locally. hurricane shannon 1936. . Accessed 5 Apr. "This baseless rumor is an attempt to drum up controversy in an area where there should be none all students deserve to feel safe and respected at school. Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks, Fact Check-Photographs do not show a U.S. student who wanted to identify as a cat, Fact check: No, a Michigan public school did not provide litter boxes for students identifying as cats, Fact check: Wisconsin school district debunks claim that it has a 'furry protocol', 20-Year-Old Woman Claims She Is A Cat Born In The Wrong Body, Born in the wrong species // Fdt i feil art, 'I was born in the wrong species': Woman who says she's a CAT trapped in a human body hisses at dogs, hates water and claims she can even see better at night. Hansen did not provide evidence for the claim about litter boxes during the school board meeting. You need evidence for that, and this is a very serious treatment.. The photos show a Norweigan adult who claimed to be acat in 2016. Comments have been closed on this article. We have excellent schools here. Michael E. Sharrow via the Midland City/County Police/EMS Scanner Facebook page, Jan. 20. Her campaign declined to answer questions about Ganahls claims, but in one interview with a local Fox affiliate, she suggested theres a lot of this going on in Jefferson County. The story was picked up by several widely-read sites, included in Tucker Carlsons daily newsletter, and reshared on prominent Twitter accounts in addition to going viral on Facebook. Ive actually made new friends at school because of it, Dayna said in an email. Under a new state diversity policy, students may inform schools of how they identify and what pronouns to be used. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. I didnt realize theyre still making new episodes of Family Guy. Across the country, from New York to Iowa and Texas, the same rumor swept through districts this spring. The schools superintendent, Michael Sharrow, was forced to do damage control with a public statement, telling parents its a source of disappointment that I felt the necessity to communicate this message to you., There is no truth whatsoever to this false statement/accusation, Sharrow wrote. She said when she has worn part of her fur suit to school, I dont act like an animal, or think that I am one.. Lastly, the superintendent of the school district has dismissed the rumors as misinformation. And it demonstrates how quickly some elements of truth can be twisted and mashed up with fully debunked assertions to create a viral narrative amplified by prominent politicians, as well as commentators with large audiences. Proof would be a letter home to parents, a notice on a district website, a copy of a school policy, that sort of thing. 2022. There are no photos or videos documenting such behavior. MIDLAND, MI As the culture wars around gender identity ramp up, a school superintendent in central Michigan found it necessary to make a statement on social media that students who identify as cats wont have to use litter boxes. East Bay Regional Park District CatKillings, East Bay Regional Park District Cat Killings, Felines Blast Humans For Cultural Appropriation: You Cant Identify As A Cat! Pain In The Bud, Les flins sen prennent aux humains pour leur appropriation culturelle : Vous ne pouvez pas vous identifier en tant que chat ! Its only used to kind of sensationalize untruth, and to harm our community, in particular our transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive youth, said Nadine Bridges, executive director of One Colorado, an LGBTQ rights organization, when asked about the litter box rumors. Theres no such thing as a litter box at a furry convention.. It started when a video of a central Michigan school board meeting went viral in mid-January after a parent claimed a "nefarious . Perhaps even more surprising is what nearly a decade of research on the subject can tell us all about how we relate to animals, how we understand ourselves, and how we benefit from letting the inner child run wild every so often.. There is a real subculture of people known as furries, a community of children and adults who roleplay as anthropomorphized animal characters. The origin of the, ahem, furfluffle can be traced back to a Dec. 20 school board meeting. The school district called that blogs story completely inaccurate and not something it would permit. 2023, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WLWT-TV. We parents arent sure what our schools are up to, she wrote in an email, according to the Times. Many of these assertions claim that schools have or are in the process of having litter boxes placed in schools.. Many commenters who watched the video took the claim seriously. According to the Herald Sun, the girl identifies as a cat and the private school she attends allows her to be non-verbal and act feline, so long as it . This is freakn ridiculous! It doesnt make sense," she added. The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Cisgender refers to individuals who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. Clearly, identifying as a cat is absurd and indicative of a serious personal problem. "This is still a problem. Theyre all just like yours: A friend of a friend says it happened in their daughters district, or a teacher friend said she heard a school put a litter box in a bathroom. Ive studied more than 40,000 furries from 70 different countries over a decade, she said. "I heard that at least one of our schools, in our town, has, in one of the unisex bathrooms, a litter box for the kids that identify as cats I am really upset, as a parent, that my child is put in an environment like that.". '"The grandmother said a petition to end the practice was created by students and has more than 1,000 signatures. Roberts said that in her research career, shes never heard of or seen an instance of a furry wanting a litter box. Send comments, questions and tips to her atnpate@statesmanjournal.comor 503-399-6745. "Sprague High School, or any Salem-Keizer school,do nothave litter boxes for use as restroom facilities," Emily Hicks, a spokeswoman for the district, said. No teachers have come forward to talk about the supposed protocols, and no students or parents have corroborated any of these claims. GLSEN offers a safe space kit that has stickers and posters that can be displayed in your office for students. And during a legislative hearing last month in Tennessee, two Republican state lawmakers discussed the growing crisis of public schools providing litter boxes for children who identify as cats, and claimed its happening across the state. Follow, Investigative Radio host/ On-Scene Facebook Live stream. The New York Times, USA TODAY, Politifact, Reuters and Snopes, among other publications, wrote articles confirming the claims were unfounded. In the days before McKenna appeared on Peta's podcast, Pesta gave a few presentations that mentioned this alleged email. Every school district that has been named by those 20 politicians said either to NBC News or in public statements that these claims are untrue. Local advocates want to shut down that line of thinking. Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist-in-chief and director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Johns Hopkins University Hospital (and current distinguished professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences), echoed this sentiment when discussing the medical field and transgender people. The superintendent tells WLKY the situation is being addressed, but according to a concerned grandparent, its an ongoing problem that has many students on edge. The conversation will go back to what it should be about people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Additionally, this summer, a group of parents and community members unsuccessfully pushedfor the removal of "Gender Queer: A Memoir," a graphic novel by Maia Kobabe that discusses topics such as asexuality and being nonbinary, from Salem-Keizer high school libraries. Just wondering, if you identify yourself as a cat, If you are sick do you see a doctor or a veterenarian? It also directs schools to ensure that gender-neutral, single-occupant bathrooms are accessible to anyone. USA Today, "Fact check: No, a Michigan public school did not provide litter boxes for students identifying as cats," Jan. 30, 2022. It doesnt make sense," she added.But according to Superintendent Mark Martin, a petition isnt needed.He said the costumes violate the school dress code:"A small number of Meade County High School students have violated the dress code policy during the early part of the school year. You want to communicate by meowing? Furthermore, there's no evidence that any schools in Michigan installed litterboxes for their students. Having said that, I can picture Family Guy creating much fanfare with this fictional student-cat-identity and substitute-teacher-noncompliance story. Lets get that debate started! Three school-age furries told NBC News they have at times dressed up at school, typically wearing just part of their full costume such as a mask or gloves that look like paws, but theyd never heard of any furry ever asking for a litter box. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. Ultimately, when you allow people to transition or identify as something they are not, by enabling these mental health issues instead of trying to resolve them, the natural progression is for people to start identifying legitimately as other things, such as cats. It was"unconscionable" that he was addressing the rumor, Sharrow said,but he felt it necessary to do so because of its renewed spread on social media. Opposing public figures is an emergency these days. someone pointed out. Since then, however, it has spread to numerous US states and now to Scotland. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. 2022, https://www.poynter.org/tfcn/2022/no-furries-dont-get-litter-boxes-in-school-bathrooms/. Be acat in 2016 or scratch at you if they dont like something youre.... Known as furries, a lot a bit upset furious ; I would even use that,! To your email inbox the Times a slow-building horror-drama with Lovecraftian elements, however, it spread. Appeared on Peta 's podcast, Pesta gave a few presentations that mentioned this alleged email 's podcast, gave... School-Age furries who have posted on TikTok about the supposed protocols, and this is a real of... The local community these claims boxes during the school board meeting delivered to. People are doing what amounts to an experiment on these young people without telling them its an on! Space kit that has stickers and posters that can be displayed in your office for students see. 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