HUTCHINSON, Minn. – The Republican candidate for governor, Scott Jensen, picked up on a tale at a GOP rally that schools are providing kitty-litter trays for children who identify with cats. These so-called “furrier” kids use the litter to pee, according to a widely debunked tale circulating on conspiracy web sites. This was what Jensen said, as recorded in clip obtained by the CNN news network:

“Why are we telling elementary kids that they get to choose their gender this week? Why do we have litter boxes in some of the school districts so kids can pee in them because they identify as a furry? We’ve lost our minds,”

Jensen was at a Republican-organized event in mostly rural McLeod County in central Minnesota. It was a crowd friendly to Jensen, a Trump apostle who, like Trump, revels in discredited conspiracy theories. McLeod County went 67% to 31%f or Trump in 2020. At the Hutchinson rally, nobody challenged Jensen to substantiate the kitty-litter tale. The tale fits the mindset of many right-wing Republicans who oppose public policy that affirms gender-identity freedom. The tale also fits Jensen’s orientation against public education. Although once a member of the Waconia School Board and once considered a political moderate, Jensen changed stripes during his one term in the Minnesota Senate and favored diverting state funds away from public schools.

The right-wing fringe tale that won’t die

As best as anybody can figure out, the school litter-box nonsense originated at a school board meetihg in Midland, Michigan. A woman stood up and claimed that she had been told “by someone” that litter boxes were being installed in unisex school restrooms for students who “identify as cats.”The district denied the claim. Even so, the fringe grape vine persisted in spreading the story to other districts nationwide. In March, a Nebraska legislator, a Republican, repeated the false claim. He later apologized. A whacky member of Congress from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greee, a, also a Republican, recited the tale as fact while campaigning. She never apologized. In Nevada, a county sheriff running for governor, Joe Lombardo, passed on the story. In Minnesota two Republican representatives, Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, and Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, , cited the story in budget hearings. Despite being confronted that there is no evidence supporting their claim, neither Drazkwskii nor Miller has corrected the record.

Anthropomorph profile

It’s called an anthropomorph phenomenon when human beings identify with animals — or the other way around. Think Mickey Mouse. Think Donald Duck. Think the Greek Hydra for water or the Scandinavian Thor for thunder, or even human-like classical art depictions of God. Think too about Halloween costumes. Yes, theologians fret about implications of anthropomorphic switcheroos. But for the rest of us, these people are only a minor subculture. They hold annual get-togethers, much like Comic-Con conventions. Members dress up in furs and animal-like masks. Whether these folks take themselves seriously is dubious Medical literature is scant on any psychological disorder. In right-wing conspiratorial circles, however, the litter-box hoax has been used to attack the LGTBQ+ community and students who are questioning their sexuality and gender identities. The fact, however, is that “furries,” as anthromorphs call themselves, tend to be asexual representations – just folks having fun dressing up as human-like animal characters.