Nebraska State Senator Bruce Bostelman (R) expressed concern on Monday that schools might provide litter boxes to students who identify as cats or dogs.
"I'm a little shocked," Bostelman said during a speech on the state Senate floor. "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. 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," he claimed without evidence. "How is this sanitary?"
Bostelman said that litter boxes would be "very disruptive to the school system."
"I even heard from one person recently who said that a student identified as a cat and wanted a litter box," he explained. "The school didn't provide the litter box so the student went ahead and defecated on the floor. Really."
"What is going on?" the senator wondered. "Some kids can't wear an American flag and walk through the school in their shirt. And you keep them out of school? And you kick them out of school but it's OK if they wear a cat costume? And that's fine and you have a litter box for them and that's fine?"
Bostelman's concerns can likely be traced back to a false YouTube video claiming that Michigan schools are providing litter boxes to students.
"Let me be clear… there is no truth whatsoever to this false statement/accusation! There have never been litter boxes within MPS schools," Midland Public Schools Superintendent Michael Sharrow wrote in an email to parents. "It is such a source of disappointment that I felt the necessity to communicate this message to you."
Watch the video below.
