A confused Midwestern politician is facing public ridicule after claiming schools were leaving litter trays out for children who identify as cats.
Bruce Bostelman, a conservative Republican in the Nebraska legislature, made the claim during a videotaped debate on education funding that racked up more than half-a-million views on social media within hours.
Bostelman said he was ‘a little shocked’ over stories that children were dressing up in cat and dog costumes, with teachers condoning and even accommodating the trend by leaving litter boxes in bathrooms.
‘It’s something called furries. If you don’t know what furries are, it’s where school children dress up as animals – cats or dogs – during the school day,’ Bostelman said during Monday’s debate.
Nebraska state Sen. Bruce Bostelman has apologized after he cited a persistent but debunked rumor alleging that schools were placing litter boxes in school bathrooms
The debunked rumor about pupils identifying as cats appeared on a Facebook messageboard
‘They meow and they bark and they interact with their school, with their teachers in this fashion. And now schools are wanting to put litter boxes in the schools for these children to use. How is this sanitary?’
The unfounded rumor has persisted in a private Facebook group, ‘Protect Nebraska Children,’ and also surfaced last month in an Iowa school district, forcing the superintendent to write to parents that it was ‘simply and emphatically not true.’
Bostelman had said that he planned to discuss the issue with the CEO of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
He also alleged that schools were not allowing kids to wear flag pins, but didn’t give specific examples.
In 2016, Lincoln’s public school district briefly asked students not to fly American flags from their vehicles after one flag was pulled from its holder, but school officials later apologized.
Bostelman, a conservative Republican claimed that it was to accommodate children who self-identify as cats. Pictured, furry enthusiasts, a subculture whose followers express an interest in anthropomorphic, or half-human, half-animal, creatures in literature, cartoons, pop culture, or other artistic contexts
The false claim that children who identify as cats are using litter boxes in school bathrooms has spread across the internet since at least December, when a member of the public brought it up at a school board meeting for Midland Public Schools northwest of Detroit.
The claim was debunked by the district’s superintendent, who issued a statement that said there had ‘never been litter boxes within MPS schools.’
Still, the baseless rumor has spread across the country, and become fuel for political candidates, amid the culture wars and legislative action involving gender identification in schools.
The furor over public school restrooms comes as a growing number of conservative states seek laws to ban transgender students from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes a ‘furry’ is someone who has a keen interest in, or dresses up as, animal characters with human personalities, such as those seen in comics, video games and cartoons.
Many furries are inspired by iconic pop culture figures such as Sonic the Hedgehog or the rabbits from 1972 novel Watership Down – although they typically role-play in characters they have made up themselves
Furries describe themselves as anthropomorphic actors and the movement has its roots in science fiction and fantasy genres going back to the 1980s
Children aren’t typically members of the subculture, which sometimes incorporates sexual aspects including erotic art and furry-themed cybersex.
Many furries are inspired by iconic pop culture figures such as Sonic the Hedgehog or the rabbits from 1972 novel Watership Down – although they typically role-play in characters they have made up themselves.
‘Many furries create their own animal character, known as a fursona, which functions as their avatar within furry communities,’ the medical website WebMD says.
Bostelman’s comments prompted widespread mockery, but also an angry response from the furry community and its allies, who pointed out that adherents go to the toilet the same way as everyone else.
‘That’s not what furries do AT ALL. And litter boxes? Dude, they’re humans and know they’re humans,’ one Twitter user seethed.
The debunked rumor is a surreal twist in the heated debate in the United States around transgender students and their rights to use bathrooms matching their gender and participate in school sports.
Various versions of the story concerning school districts in several midwestern states have circulated in recent months, all of them false.
Bostelman said he was planning to bring up the issue with Nebraska health authorities, even offering an anecdote about a student who defecated on the floor after teachers refused to provide a litter box.
Hours after his remarks, Bostelman backtracked and acknowledged that the story wasn’t true.
He said he checked into the claims with state Senator Lynne Walz, a Democrat who leads the Legislature’s Education Committee, and confirmed there were no such incidents.
Social media users relished the opportunity to mock Bostelman’s comments
‘It was just something I felt that if this really was happening, we needed to address it and address it quickly,’ Bostelman said.
‘My soul left my body,’ his Democratic colleague Megan Hunt said, recalling the moment Bostelman brought up the topic.
Hunt reported on Twitter that the lawmaker retook the floor after a lunch break to say he had reached out to some schools and had come to realize his information was inaccurate.
‘He apologizes to furries,’ Hunt said.
Hours after his remarks, Bostelman backtracked and acknowledged that the story wasn’t true. ‘It was just something I felt that if this really was happening, we needed to address it and address it quickly,’ Bostelman said
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