Hoax-pushing Republican introduces bill to ban kids using litter boxes in school

Several years ago, claims about children in public schools being allowed to use litterboxes were exposed as internet hoaxes — but one Texas Republican doesn't seem to have received that message.

Chron.com's Gwen Howerton flags a piece of legislation recently filed by Texas State Rep. Stan Gerdes that prohibits children from conducting activities typically associated with furries — people who dress up as and mimic the behaviors of animals — on school grounds.

Among other things, the bill bans students from "using a litter box for the passing of stool, urine, or other human byproducts" and of engaging in "barking, meowing, hissing, or other animal noises that are not human speech," as well as "licking oneself or others for the purpose of grooming or maintenance."

The bill also bars students from dressing in animal costumes, although it does provide carveouts for students dressed as their high schools' mascots.

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False claims about children identifying as furries began spreading in the early half of the 2020s, and several Republican politicians throughout the country subsequently echoed the hoax, which they said was an example of liberal identity politics run amok.

In a follow-up post on BlueSky, Howerton linked the anti-furry bill to anti-transgender legislation.

"If it's not already abundantly clear, bills and rhetoric like this serve to imply that trans students and trans people are unreasonable, insane, delusional, and burdensome and that affirming them leads to insanity," she wrote.