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A senator claimed students were being given litter boxes.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Apr 06, 2022
Public Schools in the northern United States are experiencing a wave of “Furry Fever” as school districts are being hit with complaints and false reports of schools providing special treatment to those that identify as a “furry”.
As older generations continue to tackle the progression of social justice and societal norms like gender identity and sexual orientation, the concept of a “furry” likely threw a wrench in all of the progress that had been made.
As part of the scaremongering tactics to undermine children's legitimate gender identification issues, "furries" are now being framed as the latest threat to school kids.
One Wisconsin school, among many other schools in the north, had to clear up the baseless rumors that were circulating on social media.
The Waunakee Community School District denied having “furry protocols” that provide special treatment.
The claim alleged that the Waunakee Community School District in a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin had a “furry protocol” in place that would allow students that identified as “furries” to opt-out of speaking in class, sit, and lick their paws during gym class and bark and growl in hallways.
In the broadest sense, a “furry” is someone with an interest in anthropomorphic animals.
Sometimes, furries assign themselves a “fursona,” which is basically their own anthropomorphic animal image of themselves with their own unique personalities and characteristics.
Someone who is a furry might also have their own “fursuit” which is just a costume manifestation of their fursona that is intimate to their identity.
What furries don’t have, however, is special treatment from these schools in Wisconsin.
The rumors spread after a conservative radio host said that she’d received an email about the issue last month and talked about it during a broadcast.
“I received this, and by the way, subsequently,” said Vicki McKenna on a March 17th podcast, “I’ve received several emails confirming that these kinds of things are happening in schools.”
According to McKenna, students were being instructed to normalize the behavior and “not take pictures, make fun of, stare at, or in any way call out the behavior of their classmates.”
Quickly, the Waunakee Community School District Superintendent Randy S. Gutenberg disputed this claim, saying that “Waunakee has no protocols for furries and no issues with disruptions at our middle school or in our classrooms. We do not know the origin of this story or slide, but this may be part of a national rumor.”
The reference to a “national rumor” is due to previous bogus claims that have come from lawmakers and political candidates who tried to use the “furry” identity to invalidate other gender identities.
Nebraska schools have dealt with similar 'furry' rumors.
In one specific instance, a Nebraska Senator by the name of Bruce Bostelman apologized for spreading a false claim that schools were placing litter boxes in school bathrooms to accommodate children who self-identify as cats.
A video on Twitter that has nearly received a million views shows the senator talking about the subject and has been the subject of ridicule for how silly it is.
These types of rumors circulate quickly and easily through conservative think tanks and echo chambers in the hopes that others will use their mastery of confirmation bias to believe the same thing and use it in the fight against gender equality.
Fortunately, these claims are being disputed and disregarded immediately.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter.