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Apr 21, 2023

Another school board clears the air about litter boxes in schools

The statement was issued in response to false reports that litter boxes were

The statement was issued in response to false reports that litter boxes were used at Polyno High School in La Sarre, Que.

A "litter box" hoax has led a Quebec school board to issue a statement and a warning that spreading false information could lead to legal action.

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The Lac-Abitibi school board, located in Quebec's Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, clarified in the statement last week that there is no litter box on school properties, students are not being led on leashes and students only wear costumes to school during specific activities.

"Any dissemination that goes against this information could be likely to represent defamation and thus be subject to legal recourse," the school board added.

The statement was issued in response to rumours circulating in the region that litter boxes were used at Polyno High School in La Sarre, Que., to accommodate students who identify as cats, a hoax that is becoming increasingly popular.

Isabelle Godbout, who heads the Lac-Abitibi school service centre, called the situation "absurd" in an interview with Radio-Canada.

"In the Abitibi, we’ve been hearing more and more about this rumour, that it's been happening in our schools … to that point where it became a very persistent urban legend," said Godbout.

The rumour allegedly began circulating after it was raised during a game of true or false on a local radio station. Another private radio station in Gatineau also began a similar rumour about a regional high school in April, reports CBC.

In an interview with Radio-Canada, Mona Greenbaum, the executive director of the LGBT+ Family Coalition, said she believes the rumours are started by adults as a way to "discredit trans youth and to make the whole thing seem like this absolutely crazy idea."

"It's very similar to what we saw back in the day when we were fighting for marriage. So people were saying, ‘Well, if we let two same gender men or two women marry, what's next? Are we gonna start marrying our horse and our dog and our pet cat?'" Greenbaum added.

The rumour appears to have first surfaced in Canada in October 2021, when Norbert Carpenter, director of the Public Schools Branch of P.E.I., issued a statement noting that litter boxes were not being placed in P.E.I. schools for students who identify as cats.

Carpenter said he made the statement after months of emails and phone calls about the issue.

"I think a lot of people thought this was a joke, and it's not a joke," Carpenter told CBC.

"It seemed to me like it was a backlash against some of the progressive things that our schools are doing, and we would have many that would say this is rooted in hate and transphobia and homophobia and that message needs to be clear, it's not acceptable."

In December 2021, a litter box rumour began to circulate in Michigan after a parent told a school board meeting she was stunned to hear that schools had litter boxes in unisex bathrooms for students identifying as cats, according to a report in the New York Times.

The unsubstantiated rumour was then pounced on by politicians and commentators, spreading the hoax further.

An NBC report from October of last year found that at least 20 Conservative candidates and elected officials had claimed schools were placing litter boxes on campuses to accommodate students.

"Every school district that has been named by those 20 politicians said either to NBC News or in public statements that these claims are untrue. There is no evidence that any school has deployed litter boxes for students to use because they identify as cats," the report noted.

That same month, two school boards in Renfrew County, Ontario also issued statements clarifying litter boxes had not been placed in the schools.

Please find attached a joint statement from the RCCDSB & @RCDSB clarifying the misinformation circulating about litter boxes in our schools. pic.twitter.com/K8IFiHwArD

The letter, issued by Renfrew County District School Board and the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board, noted that the boards do not collect information about the animal identity of children or recognize animal identities.

Earlier in the month, the Durham District School Board also moved to dispel rumours of litter boxes in school washrooms and outdoor bathroom breaks.

"As a district, we are concerned that these types of rumours about accommodating students identifying as furries, may be rooted in transphobia and homophobia with the intent to diminish and trivialize gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation and cause harm to students and staff who identify as 2SLGBTQI," the statement noted. "This is unacceptable and we are continuing to take steps to support and uphold rights for 2SLGBTQI communities."

Wildly popular podcaster Joe Rogan also fuelled the rumours in October 2021. While interviewing Tulsi Gabbard, the former United States representative, Rogan discussed a story about a litter box being placed in the girl's washroom at an unidentified school to accommodate a student who identifies as a "furry."

Furries are people who adopt animal characters to use as avatars and sometimes dress up in animal costumes.

Gabbard didn't challenge the authenticity of Rogan's story, but instead said it was "absolutely insane."

Rogan said he heard the story from a friend whose wife works at the unnamed school. Rogan later said he attempted to verify the story but the woman no longer worked for the school.

"I don't think they actually did it," Rogan later clarified. "I think there was discussions about doing it because there was one particularly wacky mother, but there is — it doesn't seem that there's any proof that they put a litter box in there."

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