email: John@depetro.com. The woman, who uses the handle @crazynamebridgetmichael, said she was taking attendance when a student responded to his name with feline vocalizations. 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. "Let me be clear there is no truth whatsoever tothis false statement/accusation! According to reports, the girl allegedly is phenomenally bright and does not speak during school hours. Go to the fifth roweverybodys there. Description. Since then, however, it has spread to numerous US states and now to Scotland. As he stated in his message, the board meeting took place on Dec. 20, 2021, and did not circulate widely until mid-January. Website development by. The grandmother said a petition to end the practice was created by students and has more than 1,000 signatures. The enabling of this behavior is halping people with legitimate mental health issues get applause instead of the medical help they truly need. "This is still a problem. The claim that the Waunakee school district had implemented furry protocols appears to have originated with an email sent to Pesta. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's These rumors put us at risk of being hurt or bullied.. "Apparently, from what I understand, theyre called 'furries,'" the grandmother, who asked to remain anonymous, told WLKY. However, as USA TODAY reported, the district's superintendent shut downthe rumor soon after Maddock shared the video on Jan. 20. A school in Australia has allowed one of its students to be non-verbal in class and behave like a cat, as per her wishes. I like bringing them because its a way to show my creative outlet and something to talk to my friends about. Will Democrats and Big Tech ever apologize? 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. 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. Brainwashed School Kids Now Identifying as Animal "Furries" by Alex Newman February 4, 2022 FreedomProject Media As if identifying as newly invented "genders" was not outlandish enough,. She declined to connect NBC News with any parents or teachers shes spoken with. She did not elaborate on what happened afterward but . Roughly three in four are under the age of 25, the group writes. It doesnt matter what a kid dresses like, one person wrote, adding it doesnt mean they are [taking care of business] in a litter box., Clothing is one thing, someone else replied, but walking around on all fours hissing and scratching at people is a whole nother issue that is being ignored.. The trend toward acting like a cat or dog is real, even if the Midland school litter box is the hoax du jour. Hansen did not provide evidence for the claim about litter boxes during the school board meeting. Lets get that debate started! Are you sure you want to delete this comment? Author lied. TikToks are going viral of school students claiming to identify as animals . "Let's instead focus on real issues impacting Oregon youth.". florida porkfish regulations; nicholas letourneau georgetown. Everyone should be sympathetic to her plight, but people should not be enabling her delusions. False rumors about. By Brooke Sopelsa. 2022. "The Oregon Department of Education has had trans-inclusive policies in place for years now, and no harm has come to cisgender or transgender students as a result of those policies," Stenvick said. As if to prove the superintendents point, commenters piled on, asking among other questions why the superintendent didnt address the issue of furries in schools. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Jan. 24, 2023, 2:31 PM PST. 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. Please! (LogOut/ We have excellent schools here. 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. In Colorado, GOP gubernatorial nominee Heidi Ganahl insisted in several recent interviews that students were dressing and identifying as cats, disrupting class, and the states schools were tolerating it. 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. There are no photos or videos documenting such behavior. Indeed, the rumour appears to come from America in a mimicry of the USAs culture war surrounding LGBT+ education in schools. 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. It could damage the student's future self-image and destroy ambitions.". Ben Collins covers disinformation, extremism and the internet for NBC News. 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. Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. As usual, left-wing ideologues have created larger societal problems by refusing to address the main issue. Even more disturbing is the fact that the private school she attends is willing to acknowledge her feline self-identification and permits her to act like a cat in school so long as her behavior doesnt disrupt the class, according to the Herald Sun. He later told a local newspaper he didnt verify the claim was true, and he did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News. forbidding transgender students from using the bathroom of their acquired gender. In a follow-up video the teacher admitted she made up the story to create awareness of what kids are going through at school. She didnt elaborate, so its not clear if she was criticizing school policies for allowing students to identify as different genders or arguing that kids needs arent accommodated. No actual evidence has been presented to support the claim. The school district called that blogs story completely inaccurate and not something it would permit. The postfrom Peggy Hubbard, who lost a recentIllinois Republican U.S. Senate primary, implies a connection to a U.S. school district, but the pictures don't show an American public school student or anything recent. The Waunakee Community School District does not have protocols for furries, nor do we have an issue with disruptions in our school and classrooms.. 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. There is no evidence that any school has deployed litter boxes for students to use because they identify as cats. There have never been litter boxes within MPS schools.. In a word, Sharrow told community members that if it sounds too wacky to be true, it probably is. Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Roberts, an associate professor at Renison University College, affiliated with the University of Waterloo in Canada, said that nearly all furries maintain distinct human personas and do not identify as animals. Thats hearsay. Despite Hubbard'sclaim that the person picturedis non-verbal, the woman can be heardspeakingin a 2016 Norweigan mediainterviewabout her identity. 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. 2022, https://www.poynter.org/tfcn/2022/no-furries-dont-get-litter-boxes-in-school-bathrooms/. The rumor about litter boxes gained enough traction that it was even mentioned during a March 2022 debate between state lawmakers in Nebraska. Also a PR expert, Goddard was highlighting concerns about the next census and the push to include gender categories. 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. Well, not a little bit, a lot a bit upset furious; I would even use that word, Hansen said. "The students are told they cant wear hats or Budweiser shirts in school, but they can wear cat ears, cat tails, masks, leashes. She said: If some student wants to pretend like a cat and use a litterbox after school, thats their prerogative, whatever. The buckets also contain candy for diabetic students, a map of the school, flashlights, wet wipes and first aid items. Im just embarrassed by what this has gotten to," she said. Seriously, Parents are allowing their kids to think they are cats! 11:AM-2:PM 99.9 FM /AM 1380 MA, RI. Some things in life, like cats, are too good to be muddied by Americas toxic ideological wars. Occams Razor would indicate she was just chasing clicks. I get to the third row and I hear this meow! Uhhh, excuse me? Be supportive of students who share their differences. Petition started to remove Warwick School Committee Bachus, State Police grab Clarke and Martin in Providence, Video: Central Falls forum on Illegals driving in Rhode Island. First, the obvious, or perhaps not-so-obvious considering the media attention and outrage surrounding both stories: Neither one is true. I start looking on the ground, through the fourth roweverythings good. I dont accept sponsored posts and I have a no-politics policy, even for politics-adjacent subjects like this. The unnamed teenage girl, who is in Year 8, is reportedly allowed to. READ MORE:Isla Bryson: Why are trans criminals put in Scottish women's prisons? go to the park or an animal shelter and maybe youll be adopted! WATCH LIVE: Merrick Garland testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee. 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? ! Follow us on Facebook! Meanwhile on TikTok, one video claiming kids are now requesting litter boxes at school collected 3 million views on the platform. Cant even google interprete for you. 2022. Thank you for supporting our journalism. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The post has been shared more than 300 times and garnered receptions of both hilarity and condemnation. Michael E. Sharrow via the Midland City/County Police/EMS Scanner Facebook page, Jan. 20. "Unbelievable.". (LogOut/ (LogOut/ No Left Turn in Education, a Leading Anti-Critical Race Theory Group, Frequently Pushes Toxic Rhetoric in Media. Media Matters for America, https://www.mediamatters.org/education/no-left-turn-education-leading-anti-critical-race-theory-group-frequently-pushes-toxic. The email was also published in a regional Facebook group. 5 min read. 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. "It could lead to a life of pornography addiction and deviant behavior. Dayna, 15, who lives in Canada, said she brings a mask and tail to school every day but only wears them during lunch and keeps them in her bag during class. It also directs schools to ensure that gender-neutral, single-occupant bathrooms are accessible to anyone. 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. How is this sanitary?. 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.. Regarding the Norwegian woman, that one startled me as I have a cat named Nano. The one thing thats certain, however, is that cats dont deserve to be in the middle of this mess. Anti-monarchy activists 'turn Buckingham Palace into polling station'. Netflix's new show is a slow-building horror-drama with Lovecraftian elements. These people will hiss at you or scratch at you if they dont like something youre doing.". students identifying as cats. room for rent in reykjavik long term. since when do cats attend public school? On the October 11 episode of his Joe Rogan Experience Spotify podcast, Rogan claimed that a school "had to install a litter box in the girls room because there is a girl who's a furry, who . AM 1380 / 99.9 FM WNRI. In the days before McKenna appeared on Peta's podcast, Pesta gave a few presentations that mentioned this alleged email. 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. 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. Heidi Ganahl, the Republican nominee for governor of Colorado, speaks at a forum in Denver on Sept. 30. Furscience, the public face of a team of researchers who study the subculture. 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. A Midland, Michigan, middle school student told the school board last fall some of her classmates identify as cats and dogs. Of local interest, Hansen insisted, are policies that she claims accommodate students who identify as furries, or cats and dogs. To be clear, I know we've all, on occasion, read about someone at a school board meeting who heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another that the school put a litterbox in the girl's room for other wackadoodles who identify as . Thankfully for our furry friends, smaller brains don't necessarily correlate to lower intelligence. Rand Paul was vindicated this week regarding COVID. The Meade County School district is dealing with an unusual situation: a group of high school students is attending school acting like and dressing as cats.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. 2022, https://isthmus.com/api/content/5442e938-b445-11ec-8e34-12274efc5439/. 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. Identifying as human isn't good enough anymore, so now some must cross species to identify as a cat to gain attention. 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 spread of false rumors about students identifying as cats and using litter boxes has been laughed off by many but is a point of concern for others. Snowstorm Could Hit Metro Detroit Friday: Possible Snow Totals, Detroit Bakery Reopens In Midtown With 25 Cent Cookies, DTE Energy Will Give Automatic Credit To Those Affect By Power Outage, Here's How Many Guns Were Sold In Michigan Last Month, 2 Women Sexually Assaulted While Walking In Ann Arbor, Police Say, Popular Oakland County Restaurant, Music Venue Abruptly Closes. The rise of the litter box rumor shows the power of false claims that start on social media to shape political discourse. But it is important to recognize that the claim comes from a place of deep fear-mongering about creating LGBTQ2SIA+ inclusive spaces in our schools.". If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can By Anthony Brian Logan (ABL) January 24, 2022. 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.'". Olivia, 16, from California, said shes been part of the furry community for six years. Why did people believe them? Tim Kraayenbrink, a Republican Iowa state senator, said at a forum in May that local schools had been required to put cat litter boxes in the bathroom for furries to use, as he discussed schools that allow transgender students to use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity. Psychologists say furries arent the deviants theyre sometimes represented to be. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. Some say litter boxes are located in transgender bathrooms in schools. Within a few months, similar rumors began to spread in the U.S., where they quickly became culture war fodder. Ive studied more than 40,000 furries from 70 different countries over a decade, she said. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Its a lot easier to weather calls for cancellation when youve been around for 20 years, youve made billions for your parent company and you have a contract that keeps you on TV for years yet. This site is about cats, and I want everyone who loves cats to feel welcome here. Where did you get your info. 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. Do they perform a naked fat test on an animal? In 2021 and 2022, various American conservative and far-right politicians and media personalities promoted the hoax in response to . 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. do koalas have poisonous claws. 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. ' she said in the TikTok video. Since many "furries", "therians", and "otherkins" often identify as non-heterosexual, this may be a good way for them to know that you are open to seeing all students. 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. In Kentucky earlier this school year, officials were perplexed by a group of middle school students who dressed and acted like cats, apparently after accepting a social media challenge, according to a report by news station WLWT. Kymera, 14, of Colorado, said being a furry is just a hobby, akin to being a mascot. "It's sad were at a point in our culture that a rumor like this even needs to be addressed," said Blair Stenvick, the communications manager for the Portland-based nonprofit Basic Rights Oregon. 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. One student was apparently disciplined for pulling on the tail of one of the cat identifying students who was seen hissing at students in the cafeteria. Hey wait -I seriously allergic to cats. A reaction from another user calling for schools to stop admitting furries to schools brought in over 1 million views. "At a recent school board meeting, it was revealed that a Michigan school placed a LITTER BOXES in the bathroom for students that identify as cats," user Jovan Pulitzer captioned the video in the Facebook post. Accessed 5 Apr. The trend isnt new, but has recently been popularized on social media. Cat and use a litterbox after school, flashlights, wet wipes and first aid items deployed litter are... Petition to end the practice was created by students and has more 1,000! A word, Hansen insisted, are too good to be in the before... Numerous US states and now to Scotland district called that blogs story completely inaccurate not! Woman can be heardspeakingin a 2016 Norweigan mediainterviewabout her identity furries, or perhaps not-so-obvious considering the media and. And garnered receptions of both hilarity and condemnation false claims that start on media... 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