I start looking on the ground, through the fourth roweverythings good. These people will hiss at you or scratch at you if they dont like something youre doing. Whats most provocative about this hoax is how it turns on two key wedge issues for conservatives: educational accommodations and gender nonconformity, said Joan Donovan, research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University and co-author of Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America.. Roberts also noted that the vast majority of furries characters are wild or mythical animals, who wouldnt use a litter box in the first place. You want to communicate by meowing? Many of these assertions claim that schools have or are in the process of having litter boxes placed in schools.. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. 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. The post has been shared more than 300 times and garnered receptions of both hilarity and condemnation. The woman'sname is Nano and she was 20 at the time the images were captured, according to the reports. 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. Thank you for supporting our journalism. 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. Last month, Brendan Shea, a Republican and member of the Ohio State Board of Education, introduced a resolution to oppose civil rights protections for LGBTQ students. North Kingstown is in the news again as a school is reportedly allowing two students to identify as cats this school year complete with providing a litter box. Meshawn Maddock,theco-chair of the state Republican Party, shared the unsubstantiated comment on Facebook. These situations have been addressed consistently by administration and the dress code policy will continue to be implemented with fidelity. Whos doing it? And this little girl in the very front row says, You have to meow back at him; he identifies as a cat. Are you kidding me?, The student stormed out of the classroom when she laughed at him, she said, and the schools administration fired her: They said We no longer need your services if you cant identify with all the children in the classroom.'. former QAnon supporter and Republican politician Marjorie Taylor Greene. The photos show a young woman wearing costume cat ears. But there's no truth to the rumor there's a litter box in unisex . Under a new state diversity policy, students may inform schools of how they identify and what pronouns to be used. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook. The Jefferson County school district disputed Ganahls claims and said its dress code prohibits costumes at school. This event was sponsored by No Left Turn In Education, a group Media Matters describes as an anti-critical race theory group, and presented by the FreedomProject Academy, an online academy founded by the right-wing political advocacy group the John Birch Society. The "furry protocol" rumor is the newest wrinkle in a series of false claims concerning absurd behavior in schools. Local advocates want to shut down that line of thinking. hurricane shannon 1936. . Also a PR expert, Goddard was highlighting concerns about the next census and the push to include gender categories. Sir David Cattenboroughs Newest Documentary Reveals The Elusive Silver-FurredBuddy, Check Out This Beautiful Gallery Of Larry The Cat, PLUS: A New Game Features A FuriousFeline, Cat With Gang Tattoos Rescued From Mexican Prison, Up ForAdoption, Buddy Scores 47 In Knicks Route OfCeltics. In April 2022, a false rumor about a school district in Wisconsin implementing a set of "furry protocols" in order to deal with a rash of students who were "identifying as cats" was presented as genuine news on a conservative podcast. The world continues to spiral down into the seemingly bottomless pit of insanity, as Bristol University issues official guidelines for staff in the correct use of pronouns for those who identify as "catgender," reports the Daily Mail. 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. Sen. Bruce Bostleman would later apologize for falsely claiming that students were meowing, identifying as cats, and going to the bathroom in litter boxes. Meade County Schools will not discuss individual student discipline due to privacy laws.". A video of a central Michigan school board meeting went national in mid-January after aparent claimed that a"nefarious" agendahad taken hold of public schools in her county. 2022, https://www.poynter.org/tfcn/2022/no-furries-dont-get-litter-boxes-in-school-bathrooms/. A video of a central Michigan school board meeting. As well as corroboration from a superintendent, principal or teacher who can say this is happening in their district. In an Oct. 19, 2021, Facebook post, the Public Schools Branch of Prince Edward Island said that for several months it had fielded calls, been sent emails and been pointed to numerous social media posts that make broad sweeping assertions regarding students who identify as cats. Jan. 24, 2023, 2:31 PM PST. I dont understand why these kids are acting so un-human and not happy with themselves, she said. Then, there was the news of Lia Thomas, the male transgender swimmer who competed for the female swimming team at the University of Pennsylvania. For those of us who subscribe to neither ideology, the whole thing is another sad example of the polarization that is destroying the US, the same divisive talk amplified by platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Accessed 5 Apr. Why did people believe them? Brandy Zadrozny is a senior reporter for NBC News. Im just embarrassed by what this has gotten to," she said. The trend isnt new, but has recently been popularized on social media. 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. Fact Check: Was Teacher Fired for Not Meowing Back at Student Who Identifies as Cat? Newsweek, 25 Jan. 2022, https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-was-teacher-fired-not-meowing-back-student-who-identifies-cat-1672597. 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. The post quickly went viral, racking up nearly 860,000 video views on Twitter. This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Salem-Keizer: Claims of litter boxes in school restrooms are false. Randy Guttenberg, thesuperintendent of the Waunakee school district, told the Wisconsin news outlet Isthmus.com: I am aware of the misinformation that is circulating on social media. Rand Paul was vindicated this week regarding COVID. 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. But as of right now, I have not been able to verify a single one of the claims. (LogOut/ This is freakn ridiculous! Anti-monarchy activists 'turn Buckingham Palace into polling station'. Lisa Hansen asked other parents to join her to do some investigating into the policy, Im all for creativity and imagination, but when someone lives in a fantasy world and expects other people to go along with it, I have a problem with that, Hansen told the Midland school board. The claim that a Wisconsin school district implemented furry protocols in order to deal with a wave of students identifying as cats is based almost entirely on one alleged email said to have been sent from a third-party (an anonymous student's grandmother) to a podcast host. HP10 9TY. No wonder they get confused, self conscious, low self esteem, and a lot more negative issues. There have never been litter boxes within MPS schools.. "This is still a problem. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. I have two grandkids in school and my grandkids didnt want to go to school anymore," she said.She said the issue gained attention on social media once people started sharing photos and videos of the feline costumes and behavior, "I started getting videos and messages from kids, and I said, 'Ok, Im going to post this so parents know whats going on. We should all be sympathetic to these people, which is why we should not enable any of their delusions. TikToks are going viral of school students claiming to identify as animals . If youre on the right, youre might argue that some schools have gone so overboard with political correctness, its not a stretch to imagine privileges conferred on the allegedly cat-identified. No, Furries Dont Get Litter Boxes in School Bathrooms. Poynter, 8 Mar. It started when a video of a central Michigan school board meeting went viral in mid-January after a parent claimed a "nefarious . Proof would be a letter home to parents, a notice on a district website, a copy of a school policy, that sort of thing. Rumors claiming schools are putting litter boxes in restrooms for students who identify as cats have spread across the United States this year, and have now reached Salem. And no, one seems to want to stop this and instead encourage it in their schools. On Facebook, public posts show variations of the claim popping up throughout the country every day, citing unnamed grandchildren or neighbors, from Florida to California. News; Victoria; Claims school students are grooming each other, wearing cat tails as part of new 'furries' trend. The Michigan incident started when a mom of kids at the Midland School District, about 130 miles northwest of Detroit, spoke at a school board meeting about a rumor which she took as fact alleging the school was accommodating furries by providing litter boxes in unisex bathrooms. Editors' Code of Practice. The claim: Photos show non-verbal student whose cat identity is accommodated at public school Some social media users are sharing a photo they claim shows a student who identifies as a cat.. This thing has gotten out of control with politicians just wanting to have a talking point, said John McDonald, former director of campus safety at Jefferson County schools, whos now a school security consultant. In general, "furries" are people who adopt and identify with an anthropomorphized animal persona, often within online or local communities of other furries, says Furscience, the public face of a team of researchers who study the subculture. That has not stopped such rumors from circulating on social media, where they have been repeated like a game of telephone, often with descriptions of friends of friends who supposedly saw such things firsthand. The source of the claim was a parent at a Midland County School Board meeting who said she had "heard" that this had occurred in one local school, but she did not provide evidence. how to craft sawmill in terraria . It's also worth noting that while McKenna claimed on Pesta's podcast that she had received multiple emails about these furry protocols, the email she presents is the same email Pesta has been showcasing during his presentations. And it has not stopped some politicians from picking up these claims and using them to alarm people by saying that this is where protections for LGBTQ students will lead. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. 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. I heard that at least one of our schools in our town has a, in one of the unisex bathrooms, a litter box for the kids that identify as cats. As the number of people identifying as trans and nonbinary has increased in recent years, particularly among young people, so has the amount of anti-LGBTQ legislation from conservative politicians. A Michigan school superintendent debunked the rumor after a video from a December school board meeting resurfaced in which a speaker airs concerns about students who "identify as cats." Lisa. Good question! Seriously, Parents are allowing their kids to think they are cats! In December 2021, conservative activist Lisa Hansen claimed at a school board meeting in Midland, Michigan, that an unnamed school in the district had placed a litter box for the kids that identify as cats in a unisex bathroom as part of the agenda thats being pushed. Hansen, who later started a local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a conservative activist group, did not respond to requests for comment. Heidi Ganahl, the Republican nominee for governor of Colorado, speaks at a forum in Denver on Sept. 30. Everyone should be sympathetic to her plight, but people should not be enabling her delusions. North Kingstown Councilwoman Mary Brimer sounded the alarm after hearing stories from parents of the school installing litter boxes at a school in a special section hidden from view. Skibbereen Community College bosses said they contacted authorities over crazy claims. Accountability is not a crime.. Libs of TikTok noted as much in a subsequent tweet, but questioned why no one said so at the school board meeting, where some people applauded after Hansen spoke. Since then, however, it has spread to numerous US states and now to Scotland. There have never been litter boxes within MPS schools," he wrote. Michigan had installed litter boxes in order to appease students who had started identifying as cats, there's no evidence that any schools in Michigan installed litterboxes for their students. At least 20 conservative candidates and elected officials have claimed this year that K-12 schools are placing litter boxes on campus or making other accommodations for students who identify as cats, according to an NBC News review of public statements. USA TODAY reached out to Maddock and others who shared theclaim on social media for comment. No teachers have come forward to talk about the supposed protocols, and no students or parents have corroborated any of these claims. The one thing thats certain, however, is that cats dont deserve to be in the middle of this mess. The school district called that blogs story completely inaccurate and not something it would permit. Rumors began to surface that these students were permitted to use litter boxes in bathrooms to accommodate them, but the districts superintendent debunked such stories. Some who have believed the false rumors continue to cite them as an example of school districts going too far with so-called identity politics, drawing a connection between the litter box claims to schools allowing transgender students to use the restroom of their choice. Then, there was the news of Target permitting transgender people to use fitting rooms and restrooms aligned with their gender identity, not their biological sex. This was the case fora Jan. 21 Facebook post that wasviewed over 8,600 timesand a tweet shared over 5,000 times. Andy Cross / Denver Post via Getty Images. Be supportive of students who share their differences. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Cisgender refers to individuals who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. 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.. The behaviour is often linked to a "furries" subculture being adopted by many teens, where many furries feel a deep connection to a particular animal that they take on their "fursona", according to Gerbasi et al. The woman says she was born the wrong species. My psychologist told me I can grow out of it, but I doubt it, she told an interviewer. Website development by. Two curious stories relating to cats have been circulating online this week: In the first story, a substitute teacher claims she was fired because she refused to meow back to a student who "identifies as a cat," while parents in a Michigan school district were infuriated by a rumor that the district was providing litter boxes to cat-identified At least 20 Republican politicians have claimed that schools are making accommodations for students who identify as cats. But the claim has taken on a life of its own among a growing number of Republicans, conservative influencers and political commentators. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to oh, dont forget to stock up on cat food as human food isnt really good for them. No actual evidence has been presented to support the claim. Please report any comments that break our rules. 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. 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. Meet Nano, the woman who thinks she is a cat. Republican lawmakers in numerous states are attempting to pass bills that would require teachers to notify parents if their child is identifying as transgender at school. Click here to sign up for our fact-check text chat, Communication Regarding False Accusation Made at December MPS Board of Education Meeting, Litter Boxes for Students Who Identify as Furries? In the Dec. 21, 2021, YouTube video, which has over80,000 views, Lisa Hansen says during the Midland Public Schools board meeting she had been told there wasa litter box in the bathroom of at least one local school for students who self-identify as cat "furries. That same month, school board candidates in Arkansas and Tennessee made similar remarks, and Jennifer Benson, a school board member in Fargo, North Dakota, told a local news outlet children were wearing leashes to school and using litter boxes. At about the 33-minute mark in this YouTube video, local parent Lisa Hansen began discussing what in her opinion is a somewhat nefarious national agenda being pushed on students. Accessed 5 Apr. Theres no such thing as a litter box at a furry convention.. However, many who shared the videoclaimed unequivocally that school administrators were responsible. The buckets also contain candy for diabetic students, a map of the school, flashlights, wet wipes and first aid items. 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