NEWS AND COMMENT-MIDLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS, MICHIGAN USA: This is a bizarre story which is currently being widely reported. I’ve joined in because of the interest around identifying as a furry and the alleged response from the school.
I believe, perhaps incautiously, that the allegation is a fiction. I believe that I have identified the first moment that this allegation was made in a Midland Public Schools’ committee meeting in which the board invites parents to have their say remotely. In the video below you see the members of the board and on a large screen you see the parents having their say for a set period of time. This gives parents the opportunity to air their views and complaints.
In one segment of the video, below, at 33 minutes into the video (the video on this page starts at 33 minutes-in, accordingly) you will see a parent whose name is Lisa mention that students identifying as furries are being provided with cat litter boxes or trays. Lisa understandably said that she is disturbed by the news. She appears to have received the information from somebody else (a student?) and therefore, it’s got to be an allegation. Perhaps the news media has unhelpfully blown it up. If the story originated in a student, it can’t be relied upon without checking. But it needed to be checked. Students must be taken seriously.
THIS VIDEO STARTS AT THE IMPORTANT BIT! LISA MENTIONS THE BIZARRE ALLEGATION ABOUT KIDS IDENTIFYING AS FURRIES BEING PROVIDED WITH LITTER TRAYS
The video has been seen 52,000 times (as at Jan 23rd) compared to the normal hundreds for the average school admin meeting. Their videoed meetings are published on YouTube in the interests of transparency.
The Midland Public Schools Superintendent Michael E. Sharrow took to Facebook to deny the claims. He insisted that no ‘litter box accommodation’ had been made for any students identifying as furries.
Sharrow said that it was, “unconscionable that this afternoon I am sending this communication. 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.”
Apparently, the boardroom meeting and the video have been shared widely. There may be some other disclosures further on in the video which I have not come to.
In the video you will hear Lisa saying: “Yesterday I heard something, and I was stunned. And today, I am equally stunned and a little bit upset — well, not a little bit — I’m furious. It was addressed by a child a couple of months ago that they are put in an environment where that are kids that identify as a furry cat or a dog or whatever. And so I heard yesterday that at least one of our schools in our town has in one of those unisex bathrooms a litter box for the kids that identify as cats and I’m really disturbed by that.”
If it is true, the only possible reason would be someone trying to make these children look silly. Why do children identify as furries? It has been put down to the digital culture and fandom. They are said to be a group of kids who are fans of anthropomorphic animals. Perhaps it is a statement about their disgust with some forms of adult human behavior? Perhaps it is an extension of their unease at global warming, a human-made potential catastrophe of gargantuan proportions. Or perhaps I am being far too serious. Maybe they want to be furries because it is fun.
Note: This is a video from another website which is embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.
