A Republican legislator in Oklahoma, who previously stated that transgender people suffer from a “mental illness”, introduced a bill that would empower animal services to expel students who identify as furries from schools.
Rep. Justin Humphrey introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban furries from public schools in Oklahoma — and allow animal control to apprehend individuals who disobey the new legislation.
The furries would not be allowed to participate in school-related events, according to the bill.
The law would mandate guardians or parents to pick up their kid from school. Otherwise, “animal control services shall be contacted to remove the student,” the House Bill 3084 states. If passed, the legislation would come into effect in November.
While introducing the bill, Humphrey did not explain about furry-esque behavior or what kind of animalistic demeanors or attire would result in a child being expelled from the classroom.
Earlier, the Republican in a video explained why he is sponsoring a bill banning furries from school.
“People are going to call me insane for running this bill. Hell, I’d say they’re insane. If you got an animal coming to school: how about we get them vaccinated? How about we get them neutered and how about we send them to the pound?” he said in the video, referring to a bogus report that a Michigan school district was offering litter boxes to school kids who identified as “furries.”
Who are furries?
There are around 250,000 people in the United States who identify themselves as “furries”, NY Post reported.
A “furry” is someone who enjoys anthropomorphism, or the practice of giving human characteristics to non-human phenomena. “Furries” frequently claim that they identify as animals, leading some of them to dress like animals or wear collars, tails, or ears.
Some of them even prefer to communicate in traditional animal sounds like barking or squeaking.
Florida schools plans to ban ‘furries’ to curb ‘meowing’
In Florida, a number of school board members are attempting to prevent pupils from dressing like “furries”.
Last year, the school board of Brevard Public Schools (BPS) deliberated over possible changes to the district-wide dress code policy. Students from BPS brought the debate topics to the board’s notice, ranging from hats and tank tops to tails and animal ears.
“I’m not a big fan of the furry movement, but at the same time, if ears means a headband with pointed ears on them, it’s a hair accessory,” BPS school board member Katye Campbell said.
He further stressed that “meowing and barking” at one another in the school premises is “not cool”.
