Answers to questions about the Nov. 8, 2022 mid-term election. You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. [102][103], Elizabeth Brown from Reason suggested the litter box rumors became popular due to "lin[ing] up perfectly with conservative fears about transgender and non-binary students". [90], While speaking to supporters at a campaign event, retired brigadier general and United States Senate candidate Don Bolduc alleged schools were providing litter boxes to students who dress up as furries and cats. According To WILX, Midland Public Schools was accused of installing litter boxes in the restrooms for students to use. Will This Make Biden Acknowledge the Supreme Court Is Out of Control? [101][89] According to an NBC News analysis, by mid October 2022, at least 20 conservative candidates and election officials had asserted that elementary and secondary schools were providing litter boxes or other accommodations for students who identify as catsevery school district named in such claims said they were false. Also in March, a recording of a Republican Nebraska state senator decrying school administrators wanting to put litter boxes in the bathrooms for kids who dress up as animals went viral, and the lawmaker had to apologize after his claim was debunked. Be truthful. There are groups of humans who role-play as animals, but they say they dont use litter boxes, according to NBC News. Yes. The specific claim that schools are providing litter boxes for students who identify as cats or furries seemed to first emerge in 2021, targeting the Prince Edward DERBY CENTER- A rumor alleged to have started via the online social media company Tik Tok was dispelled at the North Country Union Junior High A list of players on the local Minor League Baseball team who had successful Major League Baseball careers. Winds light and variable.. Variably cloudy with snow showers. Use the "Report" link on Two Things: Victim's family not surprised by no show; hospital wars in Greensboro and money well spent, Rural Hall officials violated state law, audit finds. [28][29], According to Lynn McNeill, a folklorist at Utah State University, false rumors of furries using litter boxes date back to at least the early 2000s as satire, and became a recurring urban legend. But first, Winston-Salem officials are documenting its history. [95], American football television commentator Tony Dungy posted statement on twitter promoting the hoax on January 18, 2023. Our weekly newsletters deliver the latest headlines, upcoming events and local information straight from the newsroom! Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion. It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. Reuters fact-checked the claim, stating there was no evidence for it; the school district also denied the claim. Anything is possible and I cant disprove a negative. It is such a source of disappointment that I felt the necessity to communicate this message to you.. Jan 27, 2022. Administrators for Horry County Schools said the rumors were part of a nationwide hoax and untrue.[72]. We encountered an issue signing you up. Humans can find intimate connections when they gather, but its not usually the reason they engaged in the activity. the majority of furries are motivated by reasons of social belonging, not sexual motivations. He also said regarding a widely circulated story by the Herald Sun tabloid newspaper about an Australian teenager allowed to act as a cat in class that was never verified,[107] and of the broader discussion of gender identity issues, "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. Still, Dunn told me hed never seen furry accusations being levied at children before now. He later said that he had not verified the claim was true prior to sharing it. Vance (R) Demands Schools Notify Parents If Their Kids Identify As Chipmunks", "Renfrew County boards squelch bizarre stories about kids using litter boxes at school", "How a viral hoax about furries became fodder for the GOP's moral panic", "Furry Panic Is the Latest Dumb GOP Attack on Public Schools", "A student identifies as a cat how stunning and brave", "Op-Ed: Should We Provide Litter Boxes for People Who Identify as Cats? Many people think that furries dress up as animals. Research also indicates that a fursona can help facilitate interactions with others and result in more social confidence. 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., NBC News talked with Kymera, a 14-year-old from Colorado who said she considers being a furry is just a hobby, akin to being a mascot., I have never once heard a furry say they want to use a litter box, Kymera said. Both Dunn and Joe Strike, another furry historian and community member, recalled an infamous 2003 episode of CSI that, in the words of another furry documentarian, portrayed the community as a community of sexual deviants who like to have sex in fur costumes, despite the fact that such fetishists probably represent about 2 percent of the fandom., Strike also pointed to a 2001 Vanity Fair report on a furry convention that served as the basis for many public commentators impressions of furries as people with animal kinks, even as furries themselves claimed that piece painted the community in a completely false light, per BuzzFeed News. [51][52] The superintendent for the school district of Midland Public Schools described the claims as false, stating "There is no truth whatsoever to this false statement [] There have never been litter boxes within MPS schools". Police ID man killed in downtown shooting. [21], The hoax spread in North America largely as backlash against recognition of gender variance in schools. In February, the Daily Beast reported that some Pennsylvania-based school board attendees who supported book bans on certain subjects also taunted other parents about their children being furries. [9] A school official said there was a request for cat litter in one school, but it was denied by the school board and that they did not recognize animal identities. Litter boxes will not be put in schools on P.E.I. Rumours about students identifying as cats are rooted in hate, says P.E.I. [16][6][86] In North Carolina, Iredell-Statesville Schools considered a ban on students wearing furry costumes, in part due to the burden of staff having to refute unsubstantiated rumors about litter boxes in restrooms. ", "Conservatives Are Obsessed With This Lie About Students Identifying as Furries", "Folklorist: Sky View High School litter box rumor follows pattern of 'urban legends', "Opinion | America Is Being Consumed by a Moral Panic Over Trans People", "Culture wars take center stage in Tudor Dixon's education proposals", "Trans athletes, book bans: How school elections became political battlefields", "Did Salem-Keizer allow a student who identifies as a cat to bring a litter box to school? And I don't want to waste my time saying trans kids aren't animals. He said for months schools and the PSB have received phone calls and emails about the issue. Or they applied for an extension, giving them until October 17 to file their returns. [70] In Maine, Republican Congressional candidate Ed Thelander repeated the hoax in an interview for a far-right website. [58][59] Joe Seiwert, a Kansas state representative, made a false claim during a public forum. they put litter boxes in the bathroom. [36][37], In 2016, American radio show host Michael L. Brown wrote an opinion piece in The Christian Post opposing to transgender accommodations and gender-affirming procedures, stating, "if we don't stop this downward slide, we might soon be required to provide litter boxes for people who identify as cats. [6], Throughout 2021 and 2022, online rumors of students dressing and acting like cats circulated, spurred on by prank videos. The product of deep reflection, fursonas can represent idealized versions of the self that are imbued with positive characteristics, like being sociable, funny and less anxious. ", "School district denies litter boxes for students identifying as 'furries', "Herald Sun story about schoolgirl identifying as a cat goes viral but lacks evidence", "Local Opinion: Kids get schooled in politics", "School litter box fever will not die in Iowa", "ICYMI NBC: 20+ Politicians Promote Bizarre Claim That Youth Are Identifying as Cats", "Jensen spreads false rumor about Minnesota's LGBTQ+ youth", "School installs litter boxes and promises more cat-friendly policies after increase in 'feline-identifying' students", "John Oliver Exposes GOP's Most 'Heartbreakingly Stupid' Anti-Trans Talking Point", "Debunking, rebuttals didn't stop claim about litter boxes in schools from spreading before midterms", "These Candidates Pushed 2022's Dumbest ConspiracySchoolkids Using Litter BoxesAnd Many (But Not All) Lost Big", "Lindsey Graham Says Midterm Elections Are 'Definitely Not a Republican Wave, That's for Darn Sure', 9 questions about furries you were too embarrassed to ask, Fur-mongering: Fake news about children 'identifying' as animals is the latest stunt being pushed by so-called parental rights advocates, Colorado GOP Governor Candidate Latest To Fall For Student 'Furries' HoaxHere's How Many Others Have Been Duped, The 'Litter Box in Schools' Lie Is a Litmus Test for Idiots, What are 'furries?' Legitimate concerns can help our school community grow, whereas these sorts of rumors really hurt our school community, she said. [37], In early 2022, Snopes rated claims of litter boxes being placed in restrooms in Michigan schools as "false"[7] and the Agence France-Presse said they were "baseless". Bronski agreed that children identifying as animals and disrupting classrooms was not a genuine phenomenon. A few hours after, the state senator retracted his claim and apologized, having gained backlash online. Be nice. 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 That is how people interpret what furry fandom isa bunch of people who think they are animals and living this delusional thingbecause that is also how a lot of them see queer people., And what about the litter boxes? Its a fandom. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. J.B. Answer: The IRS and N.C. Department of Revenue have the forms available on their websites and they can be printed them out from your home computer. This whole furry thing has just got me. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. In response, the superintendent of the school board visited every bathroom in the district, and verified at the meeting that the rumors were untrue. You have permission to edit this article. But the panic is probably best expressed in an op-ed last month by a former staffer in the Reagan and Bush administrations, who wrote that the left was not just content to turn boys into girls, girls into boys, some with hormone therapy. It was now also pushing the conceptwith bizarre sexual overtonesof a furry, a child identifying as an animal.. In September 2022, during a rally for former president Donald Trump, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene promoted the rumors while she was interviewed by RSBN. accounts, the history behind an article. [50][41][53], In January 2022, Michelle Evans, a Texan Republican running for congress, claimed that cafeteria tables were "being lowered in certain Round Rock Independent School District middle and high schools to allow 'furries' to more easily eat without utensils or their hands". Associated Press reported that the post was shared more than 10,000 times. WebThe litter boxes in schools hoax (also called the litter box canard) [1] [2] is a false rumor alleging that certain North American schools provide litter boxes in bathrooms for [33][34] High rates of suicide and suicidal ideation among transgender youth were also cause for concern. Send me updates about Slate special offers. Jan. 25, 2022. Lamoille South Unified Union Superintendent Ryan Heraty has heard the rumors too. Local news is important. In other words, if you removed all the sexual content, there would still be a furry fandom. [20] Several parents of school-age children have amplified the hoax on social media websites such as Facebook. [6][43][44], Unsubstantiated rumors surfaced in Prince Edward Island in October 2021, possibly as a joke. ", Audience Relations, CBC P.O. [22][9][23][21] Some conservative politicians and activists argued that protections for LGBTQ+ students in schools had "gone too far" and that litter box accommodations are what they might lead to next,[24][25] despite there being no confirmed instances of schools providing litter boxes for students to defecate or urinate in, or planning to do so. "I think a lot of people thought this was a joke, and it's not a joke.". The most important political nonsense of the week, delivered to your inbox every Saturday. Pick 'em up at the showroom in Thomaston! [3][4] Many news outlets, fact-checking websites, and academic researchers have debunked such claims,[5][6][7] and officials from every school named by those promoting the hoax have verified that the accusations are false. [104] Kelly Weill from The Daily Beast argued that the politicization of furries in classrooms was a proxy for the broader cultural discussion about race and gender issues. 5:55 Rumours about litter boxes in schools for students identifying as cats are false, Norbert Carpenter tells CBC News: Compass host Steve Bruce Litter boxes will not Be proactive. Cleveland Avenue Homes is being torn down. [84] When confronted by local media to validate the claim, Lauf instead criticized a state policy to provide free menstrual hygiene products in schools and teachers who refer to children by their preferred gender pronouns. Despite how silly this might sound to many, multiple tips and calls received by this newspaper in the past six months have inquired whether this rumor was true. News, arts, events, community and more from the Vermont Community Newspaper Group. [41][42], The only known official instance of cat litter being placed in school classrooms for potential use by students was in the late 2010s by the Jefferson County Public School District in Colorado, where the 1999 Columbine High School massacre took place. [49] The rumors later gained traction in January 2022, after a video of the school board meeting was shared by Meshawn Maddock, the co-chair for the Michigan Republican Party, who promoted the rumors. [100] Two fact-checking assessment by Reuters, in July 2022 and again in October 2022, concluded that there was no evidence that schools were officially recognizing the animal expressions of students participating in the furry fandom trend or accommodating students with litter boxes. Fursonas can be a safe, functional way for furries to explore who they are as people, including their gender identity and sexual orientation. Winston-Salem police closed Burke Street for several hours this morning as detectives investigate the second killing there in as many months. All Rights Reserved. University of Waterloo provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR. [103] Hayes Brown, an MSNBC opinion columnist, said it was unclear if politicians spreading the rumors actually believed them or not, but that either way the act of repeating the rumors was "to the detriment of trans kids". See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. [26] While the fandom is popularly perceived as such, it is not innately sexual or fetishistic. A bit of background is necessary here: Furries are not people who think they are animals. The current misrepresentation of furriesthat they simply want to be animals and are sexual deviantsdates back decades. Have you heard of cosplay, where people costume as characters? Reuters has sought comment from Stockton, who has provided no evidence to support her claim. [77] In Tennessee, state senator Janice Bowling made the litter box claim during a committee meeting and characterized it as "growing crisis" state and local officials countered that it was false information. [114], In the months leading up to the 2022 United States elections, mentions online of the litter boxes in schools increased significantly as several Republican candidates repeated the hoax and had it amplified by talk show hosts such as Joe Rogan. Why do we have litter boxes in some of the school districts so kids can pee in them, because they identify as a furry? 10 Insomniac132 1 yr. ago The BIW furriesthe While many furries have no interest in acquiring a fursuit at all, they can also be prohibitively expensive. 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