#litterbox hoax

[otherkinnews]

One anti-furry bill died, the other two wait to be heard

(This blog post was originally posted on the Otherkin News blog on DreamWidth by Orion Scribner on March 24, 2024.)

Content warnings: Rated G. An urban legend that describes an unsanitary situation. Sexism against transgender people, including attempts to prevent them from going to school or using facilities, and outing children to their parents. A straw-man version of furries being used to try to discredit transgender people, in a way that could cause trouble for people who identify as nonhuman.

So far this year, Republicans have proposed three pieces of legislation that are opposed to furries or people who identify as nonhuman. That’s something they started doing last year, inspired by an urban legend about litter boxes in public schools, which they made up in parody of transgender students asking to use school restrooms. We’ve been ending up calling these “anti-furry bills” as we keep track of them in our Otherkin News blog. Furry isn’t the accurate word, but it is the word that Republicans use in the urban legend and usually in the bills too. Every once in a while, I’m checking on the status of the bills, and trying to see if there are any new ones. Here is the update for this week.

1. Oklahoma House Bill 3084 (OK HB 3084) “Schools; prohibiting certain students from participating in school curriculum or activities; effective date.”

Background: We wrote about this bill in detail in a previous Otherkin News post. The bill says that furry students should be taken out of school by animal control. Its only sponsor (writer) is Justin Humphrey (he/him). This seems linked with his opposition to LGBTQ people, as well as his efforts to legalize animal fighting. Later, Jim Olsen (he/him) took over as principal sponsor of the bill. He proposed changing it to have the same text as an unrelated bill of his, one requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.

Update: The bill’s current status hasn’t changed since our last update. It’s still at 25% progression toward becoming a law. Its text hasn’t changed from what it was originally, so it's still about furries.

2. Mississippi House Bill 176 (MS HB 176) “Gender dysphoria; require school personnel to notify parents of student who request to be referred to as different gender or nonhuman.”

Background: This was introduced at the same time as the first bill. As we previously wrote about it, the bill is mostly against transgender students in a way that could put them in real danger. It would require schools to out transgender students to parents, and to allow faculty to not accommodate any student who “identif[ies] at school as a gender or pronoun that does not align with the child's sex on their birth certificate, other official records, sex assigned at birth, or identifying as an animal species, extraterrestrial being or inanimate object.”

Update: This bill’s current status is dead! Hooray! It died in committee on March 3. When a bill dies, that means that it won’t progress toward becoming a law.

3. Missouri House Bill 2678 (MO HB 2678) “Prohibits students from engaging in ‘furry’ behavior while at school”

Background: We previously wrote about this bill. The bill says to pull students out of school for being furries or purporting to be animals. The bill’s only sponsor is Cheri Toalson Reisch (she/her). This appears to be connected with her opposition to transgender people as well as her efforts to undermine public schools in favor of charter schools.

Updates: This bill hasn’t changed or moved forward. It’s still the same as it was when it was introduced. A hearing hasn’t been scheduled for it, and it’s not on a House calendar.

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About the writer: This blog post was written by Orion Scribner (they/them), who has been a community historian and archivist for more than ten years.

#litterbox hoax #litter box hoax #litter box urban legend #furry #otherkin #therianthrope #nonhuman #US politics #OK HB 3084 #Oklahoma #transphobia #Mississippi #Missouri #MS HB 176 #MO HB 2678 #sexism #Otherkin News #rated G #unsanitary

[carriershoukaku]

This entire gay culture war thing is actually so fucking stupid. I know it's kind of just "OMG STOPPP. STOP DOING BAD THINGS STOPPPP" by making this post but I genuinely think it is actually so fucking stupid to baselessly prejudice yourself against gay people and believing like outright hoaxes like "they have litterboxes for GAY FURRIES in school" is fucking stupid and a feverdream to witness

#mich

[delusion-of-negation]

school kids: "man, homework and stupid times and tests and all these issues are really hampering my ability to lea-"

political pundits: "THE TRANSES"

school kids: "what?"

political pundits: "THE TRANSES IN THE SPORTS, THAT WILL DESTROY YOUR ABILITY TO LEARN"

school kids: "they found like one in an entire state and there's a pretty strong amount of evidence that it's not cut and dr-"

political pundits: "FURRIES"

school kids: "what?"

political pundits: "NOW THERE'S FURRIES IN SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS ARE BEING FIRED FOR NOT AGREEING"

school kids: "that was a hoax"

political pundits: "THEY'RE PUTTING LITTERBOXES IN THE-"

school kids: "all of these are hoaxes, can we please stop, so that actual issues can be discussed?"

political pundits: "forgiving lunch debt would destroy society, because the furry litterbox trannies want to use it to dest-"

school kids: "oh my fucking god"

[milkolya]

its crazy how widespread the rightwing "litterboxes in your childrens classrooms" hoax has gotten people really are that stupid

#i cant believe how many ppl read that and like #dont question whether its true even a little bit

[pumpkinpatchpup]

i always find it interesting whenever ppl talk abt the trans community (and they happen to be more right-wing) is that they'll mention the litter box in school bathrooms hoax, or xenogenders and therians. as someone who is both trans and on the alterhuman spectrum i end up falling in this little mid-zone of "well who cares if someone wants to identify as an animal? What's it to you? why do you care if someone wants to use a litterbox?? as long as they scoop it i don't see a problem"

this gets me a lot of weird looks

(im new to tumblr idk how 2 tag shit)

#otherkin #nonhuman #therian #transgender #just thinkin #profanity #swear warning #i guess #faolanrambles

[pashterlengkap]

Schools are accommodating “furbies” with litter boxes in bathrooms, rightwing pundit claims

On a recent episode of conservative sports website OutKick’s OutKick The Morning, former ESPN sportscaster and host Charly Arnolt, with her guest Kristen Louelle Gaffney, claimed that California public schools are encouraging students to use litter boxes. Gaffney, a podcaster and the wife of former NFL running back Tyler Gaffney, appeared on the February 22 episode and was asked by Arnolt about any strange activities she may have encountered at her kids’ schools. Related: Fox host claims schools are installing litterboxes for students in bizarre rant Commentator Shannon Bream trotted out the right-wing hoax that schools are installing litterboxes for kids to use — something that has never happened. “I’m in California, so I have no choice but to put them into private school,” Gaffney said. “It’s a pretty penny, but it’s worth it because I do not mess around with the public school system. I definitely hear stories amongst our peers, and it’s pretty crazy what these kids are learning and what they’re allowed to do in school. There’s something called furbies where people go to the restroom in litter boxes.” Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Arnolt nodded and said that she has heard of the “furbies.” Gaffney is referring to the urban myth that has proliferated among anti-trans conservatives that schools across the country have been installing litter boxes in restrooms for students who identify as furries to use. The thoroughly debunked myth is an outgrowth of anti-trans hysteria, where people claim that accepting trans people as their authentic selves would require them to accept children who identify as animals. That’s not exactly what furries are – they’re a harmless subculture in which people dress up as anthropomorphic animal characters – but it’s the word conservatives have chosen to describe the kids who are supposedly meowing instead of speaking in schools. Republican politicians and right-wing commentators have repeated the hoax to gin up moral panic around trans and nonbinary kids and also to push efforts to ban students from using school bathrooms that match their gender identity. But in October 2022, NBC News reported that none of the school districts that had been accused by Republicans that year of installing litter boxes had actually done so. What’s more, one Renison University College professor who studies furry culture noted that she has never once come across any evidence of actual furries using litter boxes. Gaffney and Arnolt seem to have missed all that. The host said that she had heard about litter boxes in schools. “And this is normalized,” Gaffney replied. “How weird is that?” Arnolt added. “I mean, I don’t care, like — let’s just think about this for what it is. You are allowing your children, you are encouraging: Be who you are. Act like an animal and use a litter box in the bathroom. I mean, I just feel like as a parent I don’t care how much I want you to have freedom of expression or be yourself. That is, I mean, that’s just insane.” Of course, Gaffney quickly segued into an explicit attack on trans athletes and trans people generally. “It’s strange that we’re normalizing—and for example men playing in women’s sports,” she said. “Something that women fought so hard for, to finally have this platform to be a part of and compete, are now being taken over by so-called women.” “What, at the end of the day, we’re doing is we’re normalizing mental illness,” she added. “And it’s very strange to me that everyone can just go to bed at night like this isn’t happening in our world.” http://dlvr.it/T3FGw0

[possforeffect]

I had a realization today: furries are to capitalism, mainstream media, and politicians what a shoggoth is to a protagonist in an H. P. Lovecraft story.

Shoggoths are perfectly explicable within the context of the Cthulhu mythos-- artificial lifeforms created by the Elder Things with a bunch of eyes, mouths, and tentacles. But to the protagonist of a Lovecraft story-- typically closed minded and bigoted despite claiming to have some form of background in the sciences or the humanities-- they are an inexplicable horror that will drive you mad at the sight of it, so it's safer for one's brain to just shut down and not even try to comprehend it.

In the same way, capitalism and the mainstream media does not have a proper context to frame the furry fandom in. Reactionary poltiicians can claim that the furry fandom consists of neurodivergent teenagers asking for litterboxes at school, but that claim falls apart with even the slightest scrutiny. Attempts to mock the fandom or paint it as alien (see CSI's awful "Fur and Loathing" episode) are similarly ineffective, because these portrayals don't even scratch the surface of how bizarre the subcultures of furry fandom can be, and when people do decide to looking, they're either repelled by what they find or end up in the deep end.

To most people, furries are too weird to comprehend, so they don't even try to. Like, remember the MFF Chlorine Attack in 2014? Literally an incident of domestic terrorism on American soil, in Chicago, one of the main travel hubs of the USA? I distinctly remember the news anchors on NBC laughing at it because they couldn't comprehend the concept of a furry convention, and thought it was just a bunch of weirdos in animal costumes, and not victims of a terror attack.

The idea of grown-ass men, women, and enbies wanting to escape by pretending to be various species of animal is so alien to a capitalistic society, that any attempts by the mainstream to examine it just bounce off, which is also why it has never been commoditized.

Like, Netflix made a show called Bonding that tried to commodotize bondage a few years back. The Fifty Shades series made people confuse 'domestic abuse' and 'kink'. As rainbow capitalism has gained more acceptance and the rich realize that pandering to queer people works, we're seeing more and more shallow attempts at creating LGBT characters in properties that are inherently capitalistic, like the MCU or Star Wars. And what do furries get in terms of attempts at mainstream representation?

Pottersville, a 2017 Christmas Film where the main character's revelation that his wife is a furry and has been engaging in furry RP with the town's sheriff (who is played by fucking Ron "Hellboy and Slade" Perlman) drives him into a drunken rage where he creates a bigfoot hoax.

Goodness Silva, an AFAB member of the Great Lakes Avengers on Earth-616 who can turn into her male fursona.

A few one-off jokes in shows like Psych or The Venture Bros.

Joe 'I started my career by forcing people to eat roadkill' Rogan dressing up in costume-store quality wolf outfit as a joke.

This isn't to say capitalism and furries aren't incompatible, god knows I have friends who make their money off of furry art, furry writing, and fursuit making. But I'm pretty sure that if someone like Elon Musk, Lauren Boebert or Tucker Carlson found out that people got turned on by the thought of being eaten by Tony the Tiger, they would stop being able to process reality for at least a little bit.

#furries #furry fandom #cw: domestic abuse #furry #cw: vore

[phogay]

i think the most disheartening thing is hearing ur friends who are by and large left-leaning tell you (a trans person) about how some trans people take it “too far” and cite the fucking litterbox hoax. like man just fucking say you only think trans people who are trans to your standard deserve respect and be done w it :sob:

#transphobia cw #like please for the love of god talk to more than 1 or 2 trans people i am BEGGING you.

[phlegm-the-alcoholic-dreg]

This is gonna be fucking delicious. I can't wait to see how quickly Foxx loses her job, and how badly this pompous little prick gets dragged. You don't lie to umpteen million people and shuffle off on holiday while proclaiming your innocence.

#gift of the litterbox #jussie smollett #jussie smollett hoax #jussie #kim foxx #chicago #current events #justice #law #empire #karma is real

[pashterlengkap]

Fox News hosts can’t quit pushing lie about student “furries” using cat litterboxes

Conservatives and other anti-trans trolls just can’t seem to let go of the thoroughly debunked litterbox conspiracy theory. Earlier this week, shock rocker Alice Cooper referenced the false claim that kids these days are identifying as cats, while on a recent episode of Fox News talk show Outnumbered, commentator Shannon Bream trotted out the right-wing falsehood that schools are installing litterboxes for kids to use. Bream joined the Outnumbered hosts to weigh in on a presentation by Dr. Diane Ehrensaft. Ehrensaft, the chief psychologist and director of mental health at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospital gender development center, used whimsical terms to describe the myriad ways in which children can understand their gender. --- Related Stories Schools all over are being forced to deal with parents angry about furries & litter boxes “It’s really frustrating,” one superintendent said after the health department investigated a school in his district for litter boxes. --- The show’s hosts pounced on Ehrensaft’s use of terms like “Gender Priuses” and “Gender Tootsie Roll Pops” as metaphors for describing gender expressions that don’t fit neatly into the male-female binary. Get the Daily Brief The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you. Bream briefly conceded that most people want to have respectful “conversations and debates over LGBTQ+ issues,” before disingenuously claiming that Ehrensaft thinks kids can identify as actual Tootsie Pops. She went on to pull the old litterbox hoax out of the woodwork. “Where I live in the Washington area, I have a lot of Northern Virginia moms who have kids in school who have told me that there are schools who are now having to put litterboxes in for kids who identify as cats,” Bream said. “And I think most parents at home are like, ‘We’ve lost the story line here. Some legitimate conversations to have, but when you spin off this far, you are going to lose most Americans, and there will be backlash from people who think you have lost it.” In the last few years, anti-trans conservatives have pushed the urban myth that schools have begun recognizing furries — a subculture in which people dress up as anthropomorphic animal characters — as a gender identity and begun installing litterboxes for students who identify as furries to us. Republican politicians and right-wing commentators have repeated the hoax to gin up the moral panic around trans and nonbinary kids and also to push efforts to ban students from using school bathrooms that match their gender identity. But the myth has been thoroughly debunked. Last October, NBC News reported that none of the school districts that had been accused by Republican politicians in 2022 of installing litterboxes had actually done so. One Renison University College professor who studies furry culture noted that she has never once come across any evidence of actual furries using litterboxes. http://dlvr.it/Sv7tq7