The furries culture is something new to me. I had no idea that many consider furries evil and dangerous.

 WHAT ARE FURRIES ANYWAY?

The Student Life newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis had this to say about furries:

According to the National Library of Medicine, furries are people who are exceptionally interested in anthropomorphic or cartoon animals. They frequently create fursonas, or manifestations of themselves as those animals. The community bonds over these depictions, art, and each others’ fursonas. Some practice fursuiting — wearing costumes that resemble human-like creatures.

Apparently, Gen Z is into furries and Furrycons are all the rage.

 THE DANGER OF FURRIES

According to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Texans need to give families public money to attend private schools to protect their children from furries. He said, “If they’re being distracted by furries, those parents have a right to move their child to a school of their choice.”

He elaborated:

“In the state of Texas, in some small rural sections and school districts in the state of Texas, they have [in] schools, what are called furries. Y’all know what this is? Kids in two rural school district settings, kids go to school dressed up as cats with litter boxes…this has become so prolific,” Abbott said. “Stan Gerdes is actually having to file a piece of legislation saying no furries in public schools in the state of Texas.”

Note: Texas has more than 1,200 public school districts.

The Texas Scorecard summarized the proposed legislation:

House Bill 4814 by State Rep. Stan Gerdes (R–Smithville), also known as the Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education (F.U.R.R.I.E.S) Act, seeks to ban students from presenting themselves as anything other than a human being during school hours, except on designated dress-up days.

The bill explicitly prohibits behaviors associated with the so-called “furry” subculture, including wearing animal-like accessories such as tails, collars, or artificial ears, as well as engaging in actions like meowing, barking, or using a litter box. The legislation also amends the Family Code to define allowing children to believe such behaviors are socially acceptable as a form of “abuse.”

Apparently, the furries are so hazardous to children’s health that the State Education Code that prohibits bullying is not sufficient.

Who knew?

 FURRIES CULTURE WAR BAD RAP

The cultural wars in this country have now enveloped furries. The assertion that a growing number of public schools have litter boxes to accommodate students who identify and behave as animals has been around since at least 2022.  The wedge issue surrounds concerns regarding educational accommodations and gender nonconformity. The idea is that if protections and accommodations for LGBTQ students are instituted, other forms of accommodation will follow.

However, numerous searches for litterboxes in schools have turned up emptyhanded.

I asked my daughter, who has been teaching in Texas public schools for seventeen years, about this. No litter box at her school or the schools her sons attend. Additionally, they had a few kids a couple of years ago who wore cat ears, but it is not prevalent.

She was skeptical that a rural school district would put up with litter boxes and harassment. Furthermore, as a teacher, she has more to worry about than a few kids dressed in cat ears and tails.

MY FURRIES UPBRINGING

The whole idea of furries being dangerous puzzles me. I grew up on a steady diet of animals with human characteristics on television—Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Mighty Mouse, Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Daffy Duck, and Sylvester and Tweetie Pie to name a few.

Any child who grew up in the Houston, Texas area in the fifties and sixties will remember KiTiRiK on the ABC affiliate Channel 13, KTRK. She wore a black catsuit, whiskers drawn on her face, high heels, a tail and ears, and fishnet stockings. For sixteen years, she entertained children after school.

Additionally, during recess in elementary school, my girlfriends and I lined out King Arthur’s castle in leaves and ran around pretending to be horses, snorting and pawing the ground, our arms up and wrists bent.

 FINAL THOUGHT ON FURRIES

I am so glad my parents are not around to hear about this legislation. They would be horrified to learn that, by allowing me to pretend to be a horse, they could be arrested for child abuse.

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