Furry litter box hoax resurfaces in North Dakota Senate

During a state Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in North Dakota Wednesday, state Sen. Judy Estenson (R-Warwick) repeated a heavily discredited rumor about children being encouraged to use litter boxes in schools.

“We now have furries in schools. And I don’t believe we have any cats in schools,” Estenson said. “So if they say they feel like that, do I have to recognize it?”

North Dakota state Sen. Judy Estenson (R) repeats the false claim that schools are encouraging students to identify as animals:

“We now have furries in schools. And I don’t believe we have any cats in schools. So if they say they feel like that, do I have to recognize it?” pic.twitter.com/DkxOoW6QYw

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) January 18, 2023

Several high-profile Republicans tried to use this hoax as a wedge issue in the past midterm elections, despite there not being any proof of this happening. Newly elected Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) contended that he would be very much like to be notified if his “seven-year-old wants to identify as a chipmunk.”

This rumor was widely spread by the social media account Libs of TikTok, a far-right hate profile run by Chaya Raichik that spreads false information and controversial rhetoric. Other Republicans like Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, former Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen and Nebraska state Sen. Bruce Bostelman also spread paranoia with the furry hoax.

Estenson was commenting on Senate Bill 2199, a highly criticized anti-LGBTQ+ bill written by Sen. David Clemens (R-West Fargo) that would have forced the state to recognize gender as “established by the individual’s deoxyribonucleic acid” (DNA). It also would have implemented fines of $1,500 for every time someone from a publicly funded organization used someone’s preferred pronouns.

Outside of Clemens, Wednesday’s hearing had 92 pieces of opposition testimony, one piece of neutral testimony and zero pieces of proponent testimony.

All seven members of the committee (six Republicans and one Democrat) voted “do not pass” Wednesday. They mainly criticized how poorly Clemens and the five other sponsors supposedly wrote the bill, especially compared to other anti-transgender bills currently in the legislature. SB 2199 could still make it to the full Senate body, but it will not be endorsed by the Judiciary Committee.

Other anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently making their way through the North Dakota legislature include a House bill that would ban gender affirming care for transgender youth, a House bill to ban trans youth from high school sports and a House bill to permit social workers to conduct conversion therapy.

Estenson is a retired nurse that was elected as the representative for North Dakota’s 15th District this past November.