A Texas bill, known as the FURRIES Act, would ban non-human behaviors in public schools, including the use of litter boxes and wearing animal accessories.

Rep. Stan Gerdes, the bill’s author, claimed schools were providing litter boxes for students acting as “furries.”

When pressed, Gerdes could not find an example. The bill was left pending in committee.

  • Juliee@lemm.ee
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    3 hours ago

    He is probably a furry in secret, very effective way to make these things happen.

    It takes real dedication to make a career in politics as republican with a single plan to turn kids into furries by goading them into protesting anti furry bill

  • KiwiFlavor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    9 hours ago

    Beyond the blatant stupidity of the bill, the most concerning part is the definition of “non-human behavior.” I would not be surprised if some schools interpreted queer people, those with disabilites, and those from minority ethnic, religious, or racial groups to be exhibitong “non-human behaviors.” These groups have already been dehumanized historically.

    • VitoRobles
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      9 hours ago

      Absolutely. Any vague language has a way of being misinterpreted by the most fanatical and used for evil.

    • Eddy@lemm.ee
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      13 hours ago

      You can’t even meow, so no learning about the noises animals make

    • sowitzer@lemm.ee
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      11 hours ago

      Almost every school mascot today is some sort of non offensive animal. Puma, panther, golden eagles, a few others. Probably setting up the magas who want to go back to some real non woke “American hero” names. Gen Lee Slavemasters, red injun killers, white supremists, things like that. lol.

  • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    We truly live in the dumbest timeline. Seems like ~50% of the population has no “bullshit filter”.

  • Flax@feddit.uk
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    18 hours ago

    The litter box in schools thing happened in all of my dad’s WhatsApp friends schools, but there’s no pictures of it 🤔

    • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      17 hours ago

      It started because of school shootings, ironically enough. If you’re in a lockdown for hours while the cops take their sweet time, (coughUvaldecough), there’s a near 100% chance that at least one of the children in your class is going to need to use the restroom during that time.

      Luckily, camp toilets are a thing:

      They’re basically a 5 gallon bucket with a snap-on toilet seat lid. You use a trash bag to line it, then sprinkle an alginate powder in, (the same powder used in diapers) and it turns into a gel when it gets wet. This helps avoid the smell and splashing, and a single small sachet of alginate powder is enough for the entire bucket.

      As an added bonus, you can use the bucket to store other things that might be needed in a shooting or extended lockdown. Tourniquets, gauze, protein bars, etc… It’s all there in a single grab-and-go location. Lockdown starts, you pull the bucket out of the closet, dump all the supplies out, and set it in the corner for kids to use if they need to pee.

      But this very quickly got flipped around, because conservatives didn’t want the left to start using “schools need toilets in the classrooms because school shootings are so frequent” campaigns. So they flipped it around, and said schools were providing litter boxes to furries. There’s also a heavy anti-trans lean on the litter boxes messaging, which just plays into the conservative fear mongering even more.

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      I had an idiot teenager working for me who insisted it was happening at his school, but couldn’t tell me which classroom or teacher was allowing it.

    • VitoRobles
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      9 hours ago

      It’s wiki entries like this that clearly label it as a hoax which is why Republicans think Wikipedia is woke.

      • helloyanis@jlai.lu
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        2 hours ago

        Oh no, look! A website gathering from various quotes and sources and citing them to build a complete and comprehensive page of information about something!

        Even if anyone doesn’t “trust” wikipedia, you can look at the sources or do your own ressearch.

        But for any subject keep in mind to cross-check the info of your sources with multiple other sources and see if they tell you the same thing!

        I understand that most people won’t do it for news feeds they see online but if someone passes a law about this, it’s the absolute least you can do!

        Sometimes (most of the time lately) I’m happy to not be a resident of the US to avoid stupid stuff like that

        Edit : Just added the link to the furries act article in the see also section!

  • JPSound@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    At no point I do I think bullying should be allowed in schools but the reality is that if a kid was demanding a litter box in which to relieve themselves, they would get ostracized, bullied into oblivion, and that behavior would stop right away. No legislation required. Humans have a way of self correcting themselves in group environments. It’s an evolutionary trait from our days as tribes.

    Again, bullying is a huge problem that needs to be taken far more seriously in our school systems… Buuuut, humans will act like humans, especially human children, when it comes down to things way outside the norm. Its just the way we are at this stage in evolution.

    • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      bullying is a huge problem that needs to be taken far more seriously in our school systems

      I fear the reason bullying isn’t taken seriously in schools is because those in positions of power frequently use bully tactics to get there. Fascists and bullies are one and the same, and on some level, corrupt school administrators know that. School bullies provide useful extensions of fascist behavior, applied by peers to encourage conformity in environments where adults are absent. Why would fascists in charge ever want to stop that?

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    Of course not. Like most of their “anti-woke” ideas, they are based on lofty ideas.

    They do this to misdirect you from the real problems, those that they usually caused all by themselves.

  • Elkot@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    Furries are notoriously stealthy, it’s not like they walk around in bright furry colours or anything

  • Sumocat@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    To be clear, cat litter buckets in classrooms is a real thing in some schools but only to use in active shooter lockdowns if needed. When a classroom of kids is trapped for hours, someone will need to poop, and they’re going to want to cover up it and not smell it the whole time. So unfortunately there’s a perfectly valid reason for kids to poop in litter buckets at schools that these conspiracists, who are probably the same nutjobs who think school shootings are fake, are twisting into furry accommodation.

    • Bunbury@feddit.nl
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      17 hours ago

      Here I was laughing at a silly man trying to forbid something that never happens. Now I’m sad again. How on earth is this the lived reality of so many children? Can’t do much from over here in Europe but what the heck.

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Slight misinfo here.

      I was not able to find anyone selling or providing kitty litter buckets for active shooter response kits. I think kitty litter would not be an idea lchoice because it relies on absorbing moisture, swelling, and covering the feces via the cat’s natural scraping behavior.

      However, their are a number of classroom lockdown kits that do include a 5 gallon bucket to shit in, and a deodorizer tablet/solution.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      Yup.

      And they’ll do this dumbass shit before addressing gun violence or police who hang out scrolling on their phones during school shootings instead of stopping them, every single time.

    • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 day ago

      Tbh, kitty litter sounds like a practical idea in case of a lockdown. I was just cautioned to make sure my office trash bin doesn’t have any cracks.

      • Sumocat@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        “The only known official instance of cat litter being placed in school classrooms for potential use by students was in the late 2010s by the Jefferson County Public School District in Colorado, where the 1999 Columbine High School massacre took place. Some teachers were given “go buckets” that contained cat litter to be used as a toilet in an emergency lockdown situation, such as during a school shooting.[4][43][44]” — Note: official instance. I’ve been told it was popular enough for someone to sell premade “go buckets”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter_boxes_in_schools_hoax

        • Øπ3ŕ@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 hours ago

          Exactly. Fuckin’ FUD getting slathered around, and I’m the bad guy for hinting it’s bullshit?

          Whee, the internet. 🤦🏼‍♂️

        • Øπ3ŕ@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          24 hours ago

          To be fair, I was literally asking for them to cite their own references, but I appreciate the legwork. We’re going to have to do better, together, to make it through the coming years and while I do appreciate the passion behind knowing something true, that’s not enough to teach it. You have to share it effectively, and especially now, that means accurate & verifiable facts cited. IMHO, it’s something we should all strive for and expect from each other. 🙇🏽‍♂️🖖🏼

          • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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            17 hours ago

            Citation needed doesn’t literally mean cite your own references. It means someone should add a citation here. These discussions aren’t about us.

            • Øπ3ŕ@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              16 hours ago

              Ah, good ol’ lack of culpability. That’ll serve us as well as it’s already done, why change for the better? Good idea. Carry on, nonce. We’re doing great. Thanks! 😘

      • VitoRobles
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        1 day ago

        For some reason, I thought that was 4 choices.

        And you were passing on the lizard head, and the man wearing a lizard costume.

        But that bee…

    • saltesc@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      If they don’t include a clause for mascots or other performances, then they’ve fucked that up lol

      Just some kids in uniform standing around reciting Cats because they can’t act any of it 👍

      • Delphia@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I thought of these things.

        Imagine the fun lawsuits you could launch over mascots and drama performances just to be a dick.

        • chingadera@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          You’ve just stumbled across the craziest shit about this.

          Instead of actually trying to improve anything imagine coming up with “fun lawsuits you could launch just to be a dick”

          You’ve just inadvertently summed up the entire GOP.

          • Delphia@lemmy.world
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            23 hours ago

            Fight fire with fire.

            Create dumb laws? Sue schools in red states and deep red voters with animal mascots.

  • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.netOP
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    1 day ago

    Need a new Texas bill banning Rep. Stan Gerdes from being 10 miles near any school because dude is a fucking creep.