Republican Bill Proposes to Ban in Public Schools Students Who Identify Themselves as Animals

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By Jo Anne Hubert , Parent Herald Jan 27, 06:23 am

In their newest bill, Republicans are banning students who identify themselves as animal species and not human from public schools.

Six North Dakota Republican members presented a new bill Wednesday, sending a clear message that nonhuman-identified students are not allowed in the Roughrider State.

"A board of a school district, a public or private school, or a teacher in a public or private school may not ... Adopt a policy establishing or providing a place, facility, school program, or accommodation that caters to a student's perception of being any animal species other than human," stated under the "emergency measure" of the two-page bill.

Urban myth

It can be recalled that before the November election last year, an urban myth spread among conservative Republicans that schools in the U.S. provide litter boxes to accommodate students who identify as cats. This remains a myth, as NBC News reported in October that this is untrue.

Though this newly introduced bill does not mention litter boxes, it seems that it is connected with the urban myth, NBC News declared.

State Rep. Lori VanWinkle, one of the bill's six sponsors, proclaimed that her state has students who identify as non-humans. These children, according to an email she wrote, claim to be animals such as dogs and cats.

As of writing, the other five Republican sponsors - Rep. Lauren Boebert, Nebraska state Rep. Bruce Bostleman, Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen, Sen. Ron Johnson, and Sen. J.D. Vance, have yet to respond to the request for comment.

Anti-transgender bill

It has been reported, however, that the bill's primary focus is to restrict public schools to accommodate transgender youths and include a section for "a different and theoretical" group of students.

If it passes in the House of Representatives, it will ban accommodations for transgender students and will not allow teachers to use a student's preferred gender pronoun if it is inconsistent with the student's sex assigned at birth. Schools will be fined up to $500,000 in damages if they violate the policy.

Thus, LGBTQ Nation stated that the Republicans have gone too far in crafting their "latest anti-trans bill."

Further, they stated these Republican lawmakers and candidates utilized and repeated the urban myth rumor "in an attempt to stoke anti-trans sentiment."

According to an NBC News analysis, there have been more than 140 bills introduced by state lawmakers across the country targeting the rights of LGBTQ and queer life. The majority of these bills are focused on young transgender people.

North Dakota lawmakers, on the other hand, have just rejected on Friday another anti-trans bill that was supposed to impose a $1,500 fine each time individuals referred to themselves or others with pronouns that differ from what they have been assigned at birth.