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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska state lawmaker apologized on Monday after he publicly cited a persistent however debunked rumor alleging that faculties are putting litter bins in class bogs to accommodate kids who self-identify as cats.
Sen. Bruce Bostelman, a conservative Republican, repeated the false declare throughout a public, televised debate on a invoice supposed to assist college kids who’ve behavioral issues. His feedback shortly went viral, with one Twitter video garnering greater than 300,000 views as of Monday afternoon, and drew an onslaught of on-line criticism and mock.
Bostelman initially mentioned he was “shocked” when he heard tales that kids had been dressing as cats and canine whereas at college, with claims that faculties had been accommodating them with litter bins.
“They meow and so they bark and so they work together with their lecturers on this vogue,” Bostelman mentioned throughout legislative debate. “And now faculties are wanting to place litter bins within the faculties for these kids to make use of. How is that this sanitary?”
The rumor has endured in a personal Fb group, “Defend Nebraska Youngsters,” and likewise surfaced final month in an Iowa college district, forcing the superintendent to jot down to folks that it was “merely and emphatically not true.”
Bostelman had mentioned that he deliberate to debate the problem with the CEO of the Nebraska Division of Well being and Human Companies. He additionally alleged that faculties weren’t permitting youngsters to put on flags, however didn’t give particular examples. In 2016, Lincoln’s public college district briefly requested college students to not fly American flags from their autos after one flag was pulled from its holder, however college officers later apologized.
The false declare that kids who determine as cats are utilizing litter bins in class bogs has unfold throughout the web since at the very least December, when a member of the general public introduced it up at a college board assembly for Midland Public Colleges northwest of Detroit.
The declare was debunked by the district’s superintendent, who issued a press release that mentioned there had “by no means been litter bins inside MPS faculties.”
Nonetheless, the baseless rumor has unfold throughout the nation, and grow to be gas for political candidates, amid the tradition wars and legislative motion involving gender identification in faculties.
Hours after his remarks, Bostelman backtracked and acknowledged that the story wasn’t true. He mentioned he checked into the claims with state Sen. Lynne Walz, a Democrat who leads the Legislature’s Schooling Committee, and confirmed there have been no such incidents.
“It was simply one thing I felt that if this actually was occurring, we would have liked to handle it and tackle it shortly,” Bostelman mentioned.
The furor over public college restrooms comes as a rising variety of conservative states search legal guidelines to ban transgender college students from utilizing bogs that match their gender identification.
Related Press reporter Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
Comply with Grant Schulte on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrantSchulte
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