I know this is a dark title for a thread, but hear me out.
In the past few years, right-wing conservative media and Christian media have been frequently publishing articles slandering the furry fandom. Recent examples include this:
And this:
And some politicians in red states in the US have begun introducing bills targeting furries. Two examples:
There are many other examples besides these. I know misinformation about furies has been spread for a long time, but it feels like things might be different now. Thereās a kind of malice behind how the far-right talks about furries that is genuinely starting to scare me. I am concerned that furries could be well on the way to becoming a targeted minority group that will be discriminated against, or maybe even criminalized, given the increasing power and extremism of certain segments of the far-right. I am increasingly worried about myself or others being surveilled, tracked, or put on a āFurry Listā.
Any thoughts? Am I just being paranoid, or do you think thereās something to this?
I think for the most part, itās moved past that. Some of the more malicious parts of the American Right operate off of needing a scapegoat to get people scared. It used to be gay people. Furries were red meat for a while as a proxy to hating trans people, but nowadays, it seems theyāre just targeting trans people openly and havenāt been targeting furries.
Which is not exactly much reassurance for trans people, but it is what it is.
Very good point. I donāt fully agree that the far-right has moved past targeting furriesāall the articles and bills I linked above are from within the last year or soābut I think youāre absolutely right that furries are seen as a proxy for LGBTQ and especially trans people, and that the American right-wing has recently become sufficiently emboldened to attack trans people openly.
What this makes me realize is that, not being transgender myself, attacks on the trans community may be something of a blind spot for me. I am certainly aware of the recent hostile actions against the trans community, but I havenāt been as focused on them as on other things. Iāve been thinking selfishly, and I need to try to do better and put some focus on issues that donāt affect me personally.
Yeah, the core of it is was this idea that furries are āpeople identifying as animalsā (which is not what we areā¦) attacking them can be used to suggest the ānext stepā to us accepting trans people. It was good for the narrative, so any chance of identifying the ādangerā of furries served to turn people against trans people.
i wouldnt call myself a republican but i do swing more right than left but i am a furry and do hold onto conservative values (such as the nuclear family, sanctity of life, and am pro Israelā i am by blood jewish) but for the most part the right doesnt understand us or the fandomā¦ i think they see theirians- idk how to spell that lol- and loop us all together as a one mentally ill group. i personally wouldnt say that it is more dangerous per say but more looked at as weird. that is considering that the older generations are dying off