"Kids who identify as 'furries' get a litter box in the school bathroom."

[left-of-center2012]

A Michigan superintendent on Thursday debunked a conspiracy theory — pushed by the co-chair of the state Republican Party, Meshawn Maddock, among others — that schools were providing "litter boxes" in bathrooms for students who identify as "furries."
Maddock mentioned the controversy on her official Facebook page, stating,
“Kids who identify as ‘furries’ get a litter box in the school bathroom.
Parent heroes will TAKE BACK our schools.”

“It is unconscionable that this afternoon I am sending this communication,” Midland Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Michael E. Sharrow wrote on Facebook. “However, our Midland PS stakeholders may be confused about a false message/accusation that has resurfaced this week and is gaining traction in the social media realm.” According to the accusation, "litter boxes were provided within MPS student restrooms for those who identify themselves as ‘furries,'" Sharrow wrote.

“Let me be clear in this communication," Sharrow wrote. "There is no truth whatsoever to the this false statement/accusation! There have never been litter boxes within MPS schools. It is a source of disappointment that I felt the necessity to communicate this message to you.”

A “furry” is "someone who role-plays or identifies as an animal, or an animal character with human-like characteristics."
The conspiracy theory began during a school board meeting on Dec. 20, when a parent claimed that a school unisex bathroom included "a litter box, for the kids who identify as cats.”
“I am really disturbed by that,” the parent said.

https://www.rawstory.com/michigan-2656456919/

Michigan GOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock

[Ocelot II]

1. Christ on a waffle! I feel like we are living in an open-air lunatic asylum,

and the inmates are running it.

[KarenS]

5. amen to that!! n/t

[Celerity]

17. +10000000000000000

[yardwork]

52. Well said.

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. We know what "Furries" are - people that have a different sense of fun than I do.

I could give a shit about them. What I do worry about, are the normal looking people who are putting forth stupid anecdotal nonsense....for what purpose? Destroying this country?

[niyad]

36. Your last question was the answer.

[Solly Mack]

3. She's as disconnected as she is disturbed.

[Initech]

4. OMFG... what the serious hell is wrong with these idiots?

That is some next level crazy there...

[GoCubsGo]

34. Their obsession with bathroom usage is especially disturbing.

Particularly as it applies to school children. It's like some latent form of pedophilia or other mental issue.

[area51]

42. +1 n/t

[I_UndergroundPanther]

6. Godammit

I am sick to death of fucking people giving furries shit and bigotry .

I am proud of my feline soul and I dont care who has an issue with it or how I look. I am transfurred.
Transgender and furry.

I'd like to slash the bigots face with my claws. Someday I will build claws and have them cast in stainless steel.

I'm a furry and I take no shit for being who I am.

Some people on DU can be an asshole regarding the fur.

Tell them what you really feel if they are rude the bullies are not housebroken. They shit on people they dont like or understand so fuckem.

[keithbvadu2]

7. Maddock could not be bothered to check it out?

What about the rumor that she eats kittens?

Or any other rumor about her that does not need to be checked out?

[Doodley]

8. This is a direct result of shutting down so many mental institutions.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

9. Furries are not crazy

They have a different concept of self.
That isnt crazy its just
Different.

[GPV]

10. I think the poster meant that the extreme repubs are the result of the lack of mental health care.

Last edited Sat Jan 22, 2022, 05:20 AM - Edit history (1)

[Doodley]

12. Thank you GPV!

[GPV]

32. Any time. :)

[Doodley]

11. I don't have a problem with furries! I'm talking about those that get off propagating lies.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

21. Oh,okay got confused

[NickB79]

13. A RW coworker brought this up last week

I was like "WTF are you talking about?"

As I expected, it's a RW nutjob rumor

[Nevilledog]

14. But wait..there's more...she's a fake elector from Michigan

https://www.whmi.com/news/article/maddock-among-gop-members-accused-of-posing-as-fake-electors


She also is the one who said Trump's campaign coordinated it

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/20/michigan-gop-meshawn-maddock-trump-campaign-asked-gop-electors/6600843001/

[TheBlackAdder]

16. But wait!

.

.

[crickets]

30. Meshawn and her husband Matt have *issues* - they are pathologically fact averse.

https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2021/05/12/rep-maddock-who-peddled-lies-about-election-fraud-and-covid-19-wants-to-fine-fact-checkers

Maddock and his wife, Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock, have lambasted fact-checkers for calling out false claims about election fraud and COVID-19.

“Who are these Fact Checkers? We’re going to find out,” Maddock posted on Facebook last week. “My legislation will put Fact Checkers on notice: don't be wrong, don't be sloppy, and you better be right.”

The Fact Checkers Registration Act defines fact checkers as people who publish print or online articles in Michigan, are paid by a fact-checking organization, and are members of the "International Fact Check Network,” a unit of Poynter Institute.

The bill would require fact-checkers to insure themselves with $1 million fidelity bonds, which would be used to pay damages in a lawsuit over "wrongful conduct." The bill doesn't define "wrongful conduct."

Fact-checkers who fail to register with the state would be fined up to $1,000 per day.

[Takket]

15. is it wrong that i read the first sentance of this and then laughed for ten minutes?

[Ocelot II]

18. What if someone identifies as a Furry that isn't a cat?

Did they ever think of that? Huh? Did they?

[I_UndergroundPanther]

22. There are lots of furries

That arent felines.
There are wolves,scalies like dragons crocodiles ,horses. Dolphins,foxes,bears birds,what ever animal said furry is.

[Ocelot II]

24. Yes, of course, but the crazy people who claimed who claimed kids who identify as Furries

are being given litter boxes in school bathrooms apparently assume they all identify as cats (how many child furries are there in public schools anyhow?). Since not all furries are cats, what is the school board supposedly doing for their bathroom needs?

[JHB]

25. Sure! They also object to schools providing wooded areas for ursine-furry-oriented students!

Erma Felna, Give me strength!

[Ocelot II]

27. So if they're a bear, they can't even shit in the woods?

[JI7]

19. The headline should be "Republican LIES about ........"

The main story and headlines of these things should be about Republicans lying.

But the way media reports in it is as if it's up for a debate and at most will say there is no proof for the claims.

[left-of-center2012]

28. How does it sound as if it is up for debate ?

The first sentence of the OP says a conspiracy theory was debunked ...

[JI7]

29. My issue is not with you and what you posted. It's with the people that write these articles

and report on it. It's more accurate to say the Republican lied about ....................... than to say something was debunked .

[struggle4progress]

20. Are you troubled by hallucinations of litterboxes? Do you imagine that you

have unjustly been denied your god-given right to overthrow a legitimate election?

Ask your doctor if thorazine is right for you

[Totally Tunsie]

26. Geez...Do they have a lot of these?

[SYFROYH]

31. Regardless of litter boxes, furries are adorable.

Scritch

[I_UndergroundPanther]

43. Yes they are

Still looking for the right cat...

[sir pball]

33. The proper term for identifying as an animal is "otherkin", not "furry", ThankYouVeryMuch.

Furries wear animal suits and have "fursonas" that they express while in those suits, but don't usually dress up all the time and also identify as fully human - it's kind of like having a specific, recurring Medieval character one dresses and behaves as at a Ren Faire. It's all just play-acting, for fun or fetish.

Otherkin are people who explicitly identify, partially or fully, as something non-human - not only animals, but also mythical/fictional creatures, abstract concepts, and even weather formations. It's a full-time component of who (what) they are; they honestly believe their human bodies do not represent the mental organism that inhabits it.

I am not making any of this up.

[niyad]

38. Thank you for the elucidation. I had forgotten the proper term.

Serious question: are the zombies considered part of this, or are they another group entirely? I notice that there are several shops in my area that cater to them, but have seen nothing for the Otherkin.

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. Several shops that cater for "zombies"???

What do shops that cater for "zombies" (news to me that anyone considers themselves one) sell? Makeup? Is the market really so big that several shops are needed?

[niyad]

41. Apparently there is such a market, even here in fundieville. I have no idea what

they sell, have not gone into them.

I keep thinking about an episode of "Castle" where he and Lt. Becket encounter such a group in the course of solving a crime. Granted, that was New York City, but it is apparently widespread.

[sir pball]

50. It would seem there are zombiekin, yes.

It looks like a fairly small subset but there's definitely #zombiekin content on Tumblr (arguably the major hub for MOGAI) and a smattering of stuff on Reddit. Doesn't seem to be as popular as weatherkin, though.

[niyad]

55. This is one of the many things that I love about DU. There are so many

fascinating things to learn. Any subject that is brought up, however arcane or out-of-the- mainstream, someone here knows and can explain.

Thank you for explaining all of this.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

44. Than I am otherkin

Im older than a lot of otherkin. I wore my cat identity in the 70's caught a lot of shit for it. I didnt care because I have always been feline within.
Before the otherkin name it was lifestyle furry . Than it was called otherkin later.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

46. Yes this is true

And whats wrong about
identifying as non human?

My body does not line up with what I am. And that feeling is shared by tons of animal people

[sir pball]

51. Did I say there's something wrong with it?

I added the "not making this up" line to make it clear, well, I wasn't making it up - surely you've met no shortage of people who think you're joking around at first.

As for my thoughts, if you want to identify as a cat, or Nyx, or a cumulostratus cloud, or the Navier-Stokes equations...it makes you happy and it doesn't harm others, go you.

[kcr]

35. I cannot fathom being this stupid

[MineralMan]

37. Ain't She a Peach?

Her animal persona is a toad.

[niyad]

39. I think more along the lines of some disease-bearing creature-fleas or mosquitoes.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

45. Shes a tapeworm

Or a slug,or a lamprey.
Maybe a combonation of all three,maybe some
Bot fly in her too.

[Crunchy Frog]

47. Well I guess we know what she fantasizes about.

[jmowreader]

48. It's really an attack on trans people

Does Meshawn identify as a fucking idiot?

[yardwork]

53. Of course it is. She's outraged by unisex bathrooms so she's ramping up more lies.

[Emile]

49. I'm surprised she didn't threaten to bring all her loaded guns to school.

[DemocraticPatriot]

54. This litter box has no bottom...

[stopdiggin]

56. because a large part of the opposition ..

are NOT rational human beings
----- -----

(Really liked that the superintendent stated, several times, how disgusted he was to have to issue such a message. Just stop!)