A Florida school district banned 'furry attire.'

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06 Jul 2023, 2:13 pm

CW: Transphobic scaremongering (and debunking thereof)

A Florida school district banned 'furry attire.' It's a response to claims students identify as animals. They do not. by Sebastian Cahill, Yahoo News, Wed, July 5, 2023.

Quote:

- Public schools in Brevard, Florida, have banned clothing and accessories that imitate "non-human characteristics."

- The move is the latest response to conservatives claiming that kids identify as animals.

- Reuters fact-checking suggests students do not identify as animals or use litter boxes at school.

A school district in Florida voted unanimously last week week to ban attire associated with "furries" — the culmination of multiple meetings revolving around the debunked myth that schools are creating accommodations for students who identify as animals.

Florida's Brevard County Public School District's ban on clothing items of "non-human characteristics" was added to the new policy after board member Katye Campbell said students raised concerns about "furries" in a dress code survey, according to reporting by Florida Today.

[...]

Though seemingly unrelated, the myth has ties to conservative rhetoric targeting transgender students. As reported by MetroWeekly, Republican politicians have linked concerns about children identifying as animals to concerns about children "choosing their gender."

The ban is one of the latest responses to the accusations that school districts are making accommodations for students who identify as animals. At least 20 politicians have made the claim, despite the districts themselves denying that such a policy exists, according to an NBC News investigation from last year.

According to the NBC News article linked in the above quote:

Quote:

There is a real subculture of people known as furries, a community of children and adults who roleplay as anthropomorphized animal characters. But the vast majority of them still identify as humans, while sometimes adopting an animal-like persona and engaging in short-term roleplay, according to furries and experts, one of whom noted that there are no litter boxes at furry conventions. Three school-age furries told NBC News they have at times dressed up at school, typically wearing just part of their full costume such as a mask or gloves that look like paws, but they’d never heard of any furry ever asking for a litter box.

That has not stopped such rumors from circulating on social media, where they have been repeated like a game of telephone, often with descriptions of friends of friends who supposedly saw such things firsthand. And it has not stopped some politicians from picking up these claims and using them to alarm people by saying that this is where protections for LGBTQ students will lead.

I'll add that there is such a thing a "therian" -- a person who identifies with one or more nonhuman animals -- not the same thing as a furry. (Furries are fans of fictional anthropomorphic animals.) But even therians don't generally need any special accommodations such as litter boxes, at least according to the parents' page of this therian website:

Quote:

Q: Will my child have any special needs or requests that a non-therian would not?

A: The best thing to do is to talk with your child and ask them. They may have a preference to run outside or visit wooded areas or go swimming but these are all things that can be incorporated into most family's lives. As far as needs go, the most paramount need that a therian child has is for parents who are willing to communicate with them and try to understand and accept them for who and what they are.

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Mona Pereth
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06 Jul 2023, 2:43 pm

Other, earlier relevant news stories:

- Minnesota GOP nominee for governor claimed kids are using litter boxes in schools – it’s an internet hoax by Andrew Kaczynski, CNN, 1:23 PM EDT, Mon October 3, 2022.
- Republicans Claim Furries Are Using Litter Boxes in Schools by John Riley, Metro Weekly, October 5, 2022

Again, the point of the scaremongering seems to be to make a slippery-slope argument against acceptance of trans people.

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08 Jul 2023, 12:26 pm

LOL If I were in high school in that weirdo place I'd start wearing furry clothing/accessories just to protest the stupidity of this nonsense. Even if it was just a headband with furry ears.. or maybe a nice little fox ears & tail set like this:

https://www.devilinspired.com/Brown-Yel ... -Tail.html

Even if I had l e s s t h a n Z e r o interest in anything furry; I'd do it just to piss off weirdo bigots who're doing this out of spite & hate towards trans people even though the two communities are not one in the same.

Hopefully we'll see some headlines about high school fashion in Florida soon!

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DanielW
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08 Jul 2023, 12:34 pm

This kind of clothing doesn't really belong at school anyway butI'm sure folks on both sides will uses this as the issue of the week - until there is another shooting or another round of book-burning.

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08 Jul 2023, 10:51 pm

DanielW wrote:

It’s funny because it’s likely never been at school and they’re only banning it because they’re bigots who somehow believe nonsense that furries are promoting transgender issues etc etc blah blah scared bigots being bigots.

And like any harmless thing that’s banned, it’ll be hilarious if students protest it.

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09 Jul 2023, 7:13 pm

Brevard county is probably one of the more broadminded, accepting counties of Florida. Dade and Monroe, as well. If they have voted against it, it's probably a distraction. They can always ask to have "furries" as an 'extra-curricular' activity. That would probably go over much better than "needing" to wear it in the classroom, or else PHOBIC! :roll:

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09 Jul 2023, 8:44 pm

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goldfish21
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10 Jul 2023, 11:34 am

:lol:

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11 Jul 2023, 7:47 am

Where are groups like SDS and the Weather Underground when you need them?

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11 Jul 2023, 8:00 am

The more I hear about Ron DeSantis, the more I dislike the idea of this man running for president. Just because someone is into furries doesn't make them evil. There are lots of Christians who are into furrydom and they don't do the things that DeSantis is so worried about.

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11 Jul 2023, 8:01 am

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12 Jul 2023, 1:50 am

Tim_Tex wrote:

Where are groups like SDS and the Weather Underground when you need them?

Old or dead.

With the exception of racism, most lefties were products of their time, pretty much just as misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic as most everybody else. I don't remember furries being a thing then, but I doubt a candidate for membership showing up looking like a rabbit would have been admitted.

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A Florida school district banned 'furry attire.'