Just when the mainstream media has “thoroughly debunked” claims of so-called “furries” in schools, an example in the Plymouth-Canton Community School District is rearing its fuzzy little head.
A Plymouth-Canton student who identifies as an Arctic fox is referred to in student presentations, emails and other documents obtained by The Center Square as a therian.
“I still remember my arctic fox self by myself exploring the taiga woods and playing in snow,” one student wrote.
It’s unclear how many students in the district participate in the therian TikTok trend, in which they identify as an animal “on every level except physical,” but it’s obviously an issue students put a lot of thought into.
One explained in a presentation they have “been a therian for the past 5 months and has a lot of experience with jumping on her hands and feet and knows how to make masks and tails.”
That’s important because “quadrobics,” or walking on all fours with an animal tail and mask, is central to being a therian. One student wrote they’re “pretty good at jumping for quads now.
“I jumped over a few boxes,” the student wrote. “I knda felt like I broke my arm i-i. Idrc tho.i wish school was over.”
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One student wrote they’re still working to figure out if they identify as a calico cat, fox, lynx or deer, while another is “75% sure.”
“It takes a long time, like 2 years, to find out if you are a therian so I’m not completely sure,” a student wrote, according to the news site. “idk if all therians have a past life. they don’t. According to google therians have mental illnesses.”
The documents in the Plymouth-Canton school district follow countless claims from lawmakers and others across the country detailing instances of students identifying as animals in schools, including several that have reportedly been debunked.
They also surfaced just days after 71% voters in the district agreed to a 20-year non-homestead millage that will pump another $33.5 million into the district of about 16,290 students in 2025.
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While Superintendent Monica Merritt contends the “revenue generated will continue to support our amazing teaching and support staff,” local Angela Payne noted in a Nexdoor post students “(o)ften engage in their animal identify’s behaviors” during class.
“You may be a therian if you notice yourself shifting (getting impulses to behave as a non-human animal) or if you remember a past life as a specific animal,” she wrote in the now deleted Feb. 9 post. “Why is this going on during school time. Pretty distracting (in my opinion).”
At least one lawmaker facing complaints about a similar dynamic in Oklahoma is attempting to address the situation there before it spirals out of control, but is facing strong resistance from LGBTQ+ activists that strongly support the furry lifestyle.
Oklahoma state Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, filed House Bill 3084 in January to ban students from class and school activities who “purport to be an imaginary animal or animal species, or who engage in anthropomorphic behavior commonly referred to as furries at school.”
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The legislation would require parents to pick their child up from school for violations, and states “animal control services shall be contacted to remove the student” if they don’t, The Oklahoman reports.
“People are going to call me insane for running this bill. Hell, I’d say they’re insane,” Humphry told KOKH.
“If you’ve got an animal coming to school, how about we get them vaccinated? How about we get them neutered? How about we send them to the pound? And that’s what this bill is going to be about. Stop this ignorance,” he said.
An estimated 250,000 Americans identify as “furries” as part of a subculture in which they dress up as cartoonish animals, according to the New York Post.
Scissortail Fandoms, an Oklahoma LGBTQ+ activist nonprofit that holds and annual furry convention fundraiser for youth called AnthroExpo in Norman, condemned Humphrey’s bill for “attempting to limit a child’s imagination or their ability to identify as they truly are.”
Officials in Florida’s Brevard County Public School District have also had to take action last year to limit distractions by banning clothes with “non-human characteristics” after board members said students raised concerns in a dress code survey, Business Insider reports.
“What it does, they then do the barking and all the other weird stuff,” board chair Mat Susin said at the time.
More than 7,000 students have also signed on to an online petition to “ban furries from public schools” over distractions the costumes cause in classes and hallways.