ACROSS AMERICA — If not for the political agenda behind it, it would be easy to laugh off a claim making the rounds that some of America’s school districts are putting litter boxes in school restrooms and making other accommodations for students who identify as “furries.”
The claim that children are pawing around in litter boxes and doing what other kids take care of in toilets is outlandish on its face. It dates back to at least last December 2021, when a woman addressing a school board in Michigan said at least one school in her town had a “litter box for kids that identify as cats.”
The school district put out a public statement debunking the story, something the superintendent said he was astonished at having to do. School officials in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Indiana and New York did the same when the story surfaced in their districts. Politicians have advanced the idea as well, including a Nebraska state senator and two lawmakers from Minnesota.
These stories and others like them are false. That’s according to fact-checkers with PolitiFact, Verfiy, Snopes and The Associated Press, who point out they circulate in conservative state culture wars and legislative action involving gender identification in schools.
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