Conservatives Building Trans Mythologies To Justify Genocide

No one is identifying as a cat in high school and demanding a litter box in the corner.

Yet, that what extremist anti-trans campaigners really want you to believe. In 2017, a Quebec woman appeared on the internet in a since deleted video to decry trans people by claiming a shift in gender meant that children would soon start identifying as animals. In 2021, another woman appeared on video before her local board of education and claimed that she was told that children in the Michigan high school were identifying as cats and demanding litter boxes for bathroom accommodations. The video went viral, thrust into the mainstream by conservative politicians, far-right influencers and religious zealots who were desperate to cobble together any ridiculous story with the intention of horrifying vulnerable, misinformed parents. It worked. Despite the rumor being debunked by both the school administration and members of the student body, the story has been carried with an agenda to smear transgender people.

Lies, propaganda and misinformation have plagued the transgender community for decade, but the open and flagrant hostility was fueled by the Trump administration who began the process of excising trans people from society beginning with a military service ban in which he tweeted in the middle of the night a barrage of inflammatory statements, including referring to trans people as a “Burden” and “Disruption” in service roles. His acolytes grappled onto his remarks and have used the…