Bill Cites Litterbox Hoax To Ban Trans Kids From Bathrooms In North Dakota

The latest anti-trans bill in North Dakota would ban accommodations for "students perceiving themselves to be animal species." This stems from a hoax perpetuated by Libs of TikTok.

North Dakota has been the site of much anti-trans legislation this year. In fact, the bills coming out of the state are some of the most extreme of any state with anti-trans this year. One bill, roundly mocked, would have given out $1,500 fines to people using trans people’s pronouns that are not associated with their “deoxyribonucleic acid.” It failed in committee unanimously. Another bill would define father and mother and male and female to exclude transgender people. The state has already passed an anti-trans birth certificate bill through its state house. No state has more anti-trans hearings planned than North Dakota, which has nearly a dozen hearings for anti-trans bills this week. The latest anti-trans bill to come out of the state, though, shows just how far trans panic has escalated there: North Dakota House Bill 1522 would ban “accommodations that cater to a student’s perception of being any animal species other than human” under its section on transgender student accommodations.

The segment on animal species accommodations appears out of place in a bill that essentially bans transgender students from bathrooms other than their assigned sex at birth. It also states that transgender students are going to be banned from accommodations such as unisex or gender-neutral bathrooms unless they have had bottom surgery - something that is not done on transgender youth under 18 years old. The bill itself is an exercise in cruelty directed at trans students and goes way beyond any other bathroom bill we have seen in any other state. The provision on animal species, though, might seem entirely out of place to someone who has not watched Libs of TikTok and Fox News in recent months. It states that a school may not:

Restriction on schools placed into HB1522

To those who may not have been following closely along, in January 2022, the account Libs of TikTok tweeted a video of a conservative activist, Lisa Hansen, who belongs to the anti-trans groups Moms for Liberty. Hansen had claimed that schools were providing litterboxes for people who identify as cats in schools. The claim was later proven to be a hoax - the school in question announced that there was no truth to the accusation and that there were never any litterboxes present in the school claimed. Viral hoax videos on TikTok showing litterboxes spread, though, and the damage from the false information was already done. The litterbox hoax was ready to weaponize against transgender people in schools - a sad and harmful iteration of the worn out “I identify as” joke turned onto the trans community with actual policy implications.

Legislators in multiple states cited litterboxes in schools as a reason to target the transgender community. In Tennessee, when raising alarm against “gender confusion,” two representatives cited the problem of “litterboxes in schools” to stop trans kids from going into restrooms matching their gender identity. Three Minnesota representatives used it to try to justify a bill banning trans youth from bathrooms as well. In Missouri, a bill was nearly passed that would have banned trans youth from sports. In the floor debate, they discussed furies in school to justify the ban and specifically pointed to Libs of TikTok. Reporter Tyler Kingkade documented up to 20 instances of politicians leaning into this hoax to justify attacking trans youth. It was even pushed by Joe Rogan for months, though in November he finally admitted it was a hoax.

Erin Reed @ErinInTheMorn

Apologies for audio quality, but if you ever have doubts how much damage misinformation on Libs of TikTok is doing to trans people, listen to two Missouri senators muse about people identifying as cats while they debate bills to detransition trans teens and kick them from sports.

National reporter Ben Collins investigated the reports of litterboxes in schools. The only example that he found after searching across the country was the existence of kitty litter being kept in schools so that students can use the bathroom during school shootings. They are called “go buckets,” and they are a grim reminder of one of the real problems we face in schools in gun violence. It is doubtful that any of these Representatives will put any focus on this particular political issue that does have to do with kitty litter in schools.

Libs of TikTok has repeatedly spread hate and disinformation on social media targeting the trans community. The Boston Herald reported that Libs of tikTok spread disinformation about the hospital performing hysterectomies on trans youth. The hospital has since come under repeated bomb threats. Multiple people have been arrested for perpetuating the threats. The account has been linked to potentially instigating 66 episodes of violence against the trans community by disinformation researchers Task Force Butler.

This harmful narrative has existed for a long time and has been used verbally to justify attacking transgender rights in schools. Though it has clearly been proven to be a hoax, we now have a bill that places it in writing alongside bans on transgender equality in bathrooms. The bill, even without the “identification as animals” section, is one of the worst anti-trans bathroom bans I have seen in any state. North Dakota legislators have indicated a willingness to pass at least some kind of anti-trans legislation this cycle and will be hearing many bills this coming week. It is sad that a hoax has been so successfully weaponized against the trans community, but this is just one more example of how the anti-trans panic has broken the brains of legislators and has been used to justify outlandish claims about how transgender people interact with the world around them.