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Republican nominee for governor of Colorado, Heidi Ganahl, doubled down this week on her outlandish accusations that students across the state are identifying as animals.
Ganahl told a local radio host on Wednesday that school districts refuting her claims are outright lying.
“The school districts are not being truthful,” Ganahl told KNUS The George Brauchler Show. “I will tell the truth even if it is uncomfortable.”
Kyle Clark of Colorado’s 9 News reported that Ganahl claimed “that her campaign is collecting and distributing photos of children they believe are identifying as animals.”
We provided pictures but we blurred out the faces,” Ganahl said during the interview, claiming she has proof.
Clark noted of the bizarre claims, “It’s unclear how the Ganahl campaign is confirming that the individual children in the photos they are distributing identify as animals (as opposed to simply dressing up in cat ears or other type of animal costumes).”
It’s unclear how the Ganahl campaign is confirming that the individual children in the photos they are distributing identify as animals (as opposed to simply dressing up in cat ears or other type of animal costumes).
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) October 5, 2022
Ganahl sparked controversy in late September when she told KNUS host Jimmy Sengenberger, “Have you heard about this story? Kids identifying as cats. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it’s happening all over Colorado and schools are tolerating it.”
The comment parrots debunked smears against teachers from social media activists like Libs of TikTok and other right-wing accounts claiming identity politics are harming children.
“This is this really weird phenomenon that’s happening in middle schools and high schools. It’s actually been going on for a couple of years. It’s called ‘furries,”” Ganahl continued at the time. “Kids, they’ve gone through a really tough time and they’re struggling. So I have a lot of compassion for kids that are having difficulty right now. But schools tolerating kids dressing up as cats is not appropriate.”
Denver’s Jefferson County School District, which Ganahl singled out, refuted her comments, saying, “there is absolutely no truth to this claim.”
“There are no litter boxes in our buildings and students are not allowed to come to school in costume. There are no furries or students identifying as such during the school day,” the district’s spokesperson told Colorado’s FOX 31.
Other Republican candidates like Scott Jensen, the Republican nominee for governor of Minnesota, have made similar comments.
“But what about education?” Jensen said while speaking to reporters at a recent event. “What are we doing to our kids? Why are we telling elementary kids that they get to choose their gender this week? Why do we have litter boxes in some of the school districts so kids can pee in them, because they identify as a furry? We’ve lost our minds. We’ve lost our minds.”
CNN reported on Jensen’s comments which school leaders have condemned and has been debunked as a “bizarre hoax claim” spreading the internet.
At an event last week, the GOP candidate for governor of Minnesota there are, “litter boxes in some of the school districts so kids can pee in them, because they identify as a furry…”
It’s a persistent and bizarre Internet hoax.https://t.co/CJfOoh8Gux pic.twitter.com/VCreOvjhh9
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) October 3, 2022
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