Last month it was a Nebraska Republican state lawmaker who promoted the lie that children in schools are pretending to be animals – “furries” – demanding litterboxes, and defecating on the classroom floor if not given them. Rep. Bruce Bostelman was insistent that schoolchildren were meowing, barking, and believing themselves to be domesticated pets. His biggest problem with the whole issue: “How is this sanitary?”
Fast forward exactly one month and three of Minnesota’s state Republican lawmakers are the latest to push this lie – a lie that originated in anti-transgender hate.
“There is something going on in our schools according to this, something called ‘furry.’ And I think it’s spelled F-U-R-R-Y. I looked it up on Google,” Rep. Steve Drazkowski, apparently not very good at researching, said on the Minnesota House floor.
“It’s described to me that we have kids in our schools who believe that they are animals,” continued Drazkowski, using the very malleable “described to me” phrase.
“And they are identifying I’m told as animals. Identifying as animals., They think they’re a cat. A cat. They put tails on and they demand that they have a litterbox at school,” he added. All of which is false.
“Has anybody else heard that?” Drazkowski asked on the House floor. “Have you heard about this ‘furry’ thing?”
“It’s in the dictionary on Google, Madam Speaker,” he claimed, again, not being very good with research.
Not to be outdone, Republican Rep. Eric Lucero said on the House floor, “When I heard about this, I heard they were actually cutting holes in the uniforms for tails, and in some cases, the students were putting on fake tails. And in some cases one of the parents was responding to what was happening in the school where a child that believed themselves to be a cat – didn’t have a physical tail, ut had an imaginary tail. And they were sitting at – I think it was a lunch, ah, a table in the lunchroom, and this imaginary tail was there. A student came up, and sat down and the child that believed themself to be a cat, screamed, ‘You just sat on my tail!’ that was imaginary. Didn’t exist.”
And yet, another.
“In my district, I won’t even name the school, in my district I had a pastor come to me and he said he is being told that in one school district – and I’m not saying this is the case, we don’t know, it’s unconfirmed – but he is being told by multiple people that there’s a litter box in one of the locker room, or bathroom, that’s my understanding,” GOP Rep. Tim Miller claimed, again on the House floor.
These are grown adults, elected officials, standing in the Minnesota people’s house and spreading ridiculous falsehoods.
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