Online mentions of the false narrative that schools are providing litter boxes for students who identify as cats or furries intensified in the months before the 2022 midterm election, an analysis shows.
Despite a complete lack of evidence and rebuttals from schools, conservative political candidates, pundits and elected officials continued to repeat the unsubstantiated claim.
The falsehood reflects a misunderstanding of gender identity and the furry community that dehumanizes LGBTQ people, experts told us.
Since January 2022, when it was propelled across the internet in the U.S. by a conservative Twitter account, the false claim has stubbornly persisted that school districts are providing litter boxes for students who identify as cats or furries.
Republican politicians and right-wing figures with large followings kept the claim alive, often repeating stories they’d supposedly heard from friends or seen online, without offering evidence to substantiate them.
"In my district, I had a pastor come to me and he said he is being told that in the one school district — and I’m not saying this is the case, we don’t know, it’s unconfirmed," said Minnesota state Rep. Tim Miller, a Republican, in April. "But he is being told by multiple people that there is a litter box in one of the locker rooms."
Miller was one of three lawmakers in the state who shared the unsubstantiated rumor that month.
In the months leading up to the midterm election, online mentions of the false...
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