A false claim by Wisconsin conservative radio host Vicki McKenna that the Waunakee school district has a policy to “normalize the behavior of furries” — students who are purported to dress in costumes and pretend to be anthropomorphized animals — is being touted as fact and widely circulated on social media.
McKenna said “she had several emails” to support her claim while a guest on the March 17 episode of the Dr. Duke Show, a podcast hosted by UW-Oshkosh professor Duke Pesta.
McKenna also claimed on the podcast that the Waunakee school district is “encouraging kids to adopt alt-gender and alt-sexualities as their identities.”
The superintendent of the Waunakee school district says McKenna’s claims are unequivocally false.
“I am aware of the misinformation that is circulating on social media,” Randy Guttenberg tells Isthmus in an email. “The Waunakee Community School District does not have protocols for furries, nor do we have an issue with disruptions in our school and classrooms.”
Despite the refutation by the school district, a video clip of McKenna’s claims has garnered more than 160,000 views on social media.
Echoing bigoted comparisons of homosexuality to bestiality, McKenna’s claim is premised on the false notion that furry fandom — think of Star Trek fans dressing up as fictional characters for a convention — is now being treated as a “gender identity” in the Waunakee schools. It is not.
Yet, McKenna said on the Dr. Duke Show that “this is real, it is happening.”
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