A New York kitten rescue says it won’t adopt to MAGA supporters and screens applicants’ social media for cruelty

A New York City kitten rescue posted a message on social media barring MAGA supporters, conservatives and self-described apolitical applicants from adopting, according to Fox News Digital. The post came from Itty Bitty City Kitties, a Rockaway Beach 501(c)(3) nonprofit that specializes in orphaned and neonatal kittens.

The post read, “MAGA? Nope. Conservative? Nope. ‘I’m not political’? Nice loophole. Still nope.” A photo of a kitten in the same post carried the message, “No. *******. MAGA.” The outlet asked whether an applicant could be rejected for identifying as MAGA, conservative or apolitical. Rescue director Samantha Knox said the organization’s main duty is keeping its animals safe. “As an animal welfare rescue, our primary responsibility is ensuring the animals in our care go to safe, compassionate homes,” she said.

Knox said a history of “celebrating harm or abuse, be it toward people or animals” is a warning sign in rescue work. “We stand by our mission and will never place a vulnerable animal with anyone, ever, who we feel is a danger to the welfare of the animal,” she added.

She still won’t say yes or no

Asked a narrower question, about a MAGA or conservative applicant with no record of cruelty, threats, neglect or violence, Knox said the rescue does not screen by registered political party. “MAGA is a political movement and ideology, not a recognized political party,” she said. Asked again, she did not give a yes-or-no answer, saying such evaluations cannot be reduced to a “binary” premise.

A financial ability to care for an animal, regular vet visits and a ban on declawing are among the published adoption standards on the rescue’s website. Political affiliation, conservatism or MAGA is absent from that public list.

PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk said homeless animals do not care about an adopter’s politics, only whether they will be loved and cared for. “Homeless animals don’t care which side of abortion you are on or whether you believe in global warming or support Palestine or Israel, or if you don’t vote at all, ever: they care if you love them and will give them a good home,” she said. “We hope this policy, which is humancentric, is reconsidered and abolished.”

Newkirk told the Washington Examiner the ban amounts to discrimination. “There is a homeless kitten crisis, and to bar people from providing a loving home because their political views aren’t yours is as outrageous as saying no to someone because they are Jewish or Buddhist or from Lithuania,” she said.

“The only relevant factor is do they have the time, patience, money for veterinary care (which can be expensive) and love in their heart for that kitten (preferably for two so the kittens can keep each other company).”

Knox told the Washington Examiner the rescue does not review applicants’ private voting records or ask about party registration, but it does review their public social media activity. An applicant whose public activity shows “rhetoric or actions that celebrate, promote, or encourage cruelty, discrimination, or harm against human beings or animals” will not be considered, she said. That outlet reported the rescue posted screenshots of more than a dozen messages it said it received after the post went viral.

Some came from people who described themselves as Trump voters or conservatives who said they loved cats or had adopted from the rescue before. Others contained racial and anti-LGBT slurs. Knox argued that political affiliation is not a protected class under federal public accommodation law.