Sponsor of cruel Arkansas anti-trans bill claims kids are identifying as cats

The Republican sponsor of a cruel anti-trans bill in Arkansas has made the unfathomable claim that children are now identifying as cats.

Mary Bentley is pushing House Bill 1749, a law that would bar public schools, state colleges and universities from requiring that teachers use students’ preferred names and pronouns if they differ from the student’s “biological sex”.

The bill is now awaiting Senate action after it passed the state’s House of Representatives on Thursday (8 April).

Those opposing the measure say it protects teachers who choose to intentionally misgender their trans students, which Bentley gladly confirmed would be the case.

“It’s not compelling anyone’s speech. It’s not prohibiting anyone’s speech. It’s helping those professors and teachers in our schools that do not want to be sued for not using a certain person’s pronoun,” she said.

Bentley was forced to admit that she didn’t actually know of any such incidents happening in Arkansas; indeed, there have been very few cases of teachers being sued for misgendering students anywhere in the US.

Yet the Republican insisted she’d spoken with a number of concerned teachers about the matter – and what’s more, she says, some students now identify as animals.

Source: PinkNews