Students not using school bathroom litter boxes; Nebraska lawmaker walks back claim

A Nebraska state lawmaker apologized on Monday following he publicly cited a persistent but debunked rumor alleging that faculties are inserting litter boxes in school loos to accommodate children who self-recognize as cats.

Sen. Bruce Bostelman, a conservative Republican, repeated the false declare throughout a general public, televised discussion on a bill intended to help university youngsters who have behavioral difficulties. His comments swiftly went viral, with one Twitter video garnering extra than 300,000 views as of Monday afternoon, and drew an onslaught of on the web criticism and ridicule.

Bostelman at first mentioned he was “shocked” when he listened to tales that little ones have been dressing as cats and canines even though at faculty, with statements that educational institutions had been accommodating them with litter containers.

“They meow and they bark and they interact with their lecturers in this manner,” Bostelman said in the course of legislative debate. “And now colleges are wanting to put litter packing containers in the universities for these small children to use. How is this sanitary?”

The rumor has persisted in a personal Facebook group, “Protect Nebraska Kids,” and also surfaced last thirty day period in an Iowa university district, forcing the superintendent to publish to parents that it was “simply and emphatically not real.”

Bostelman had explained that he planned to examine the challenge with the CEO of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. He also alleged that educational facilities had been not enabling young children to wear flags, but did not give precise illustrations. In 2016, Lincoln’s community college district briefly requested pupils not to fly American flags from their automobiles following one particular flag was pulled from its holder, but university officials later apologized.

The untrue declare that children who detect as cats are working with litter containers in faculty bathrooms has distribute across the world-wide-web considering the fact that at least December, when a member of the general public brought it up at a college board assembly for Midland Public Universities northwest of Detroit.

The claim was debunked by the district’s superintendent, who issued a statement that said there experienced “never been litter bins in just MPS colleges.”

Continue to, the baseless rumor has distribute across the region, and grow to be gas for political candidates, amid the culture wars and legislative action involving gender identification in schools.

Hrs soon after his remarks, Bostelman backtracked and acknowledged that the tale was not accurate. He explained he checked into the promises with condition Sen. Lynne Walz, a Democrat who potential customers the Legislature’s Education and learning Committee, and verified there were being no these incidents.

“It was just a thing I felt that if this genuinely was occurring, we essential to deal with it and deal with it quickly,” Bostelman reported.

The furor over general public college restrooms will come as a escalating amount of conservative states look for laws to ban transgender pupils from applying bogs that match their gender identification.