"Furries" are people of various ages who dress in anthropomorphic, sometimes full-body animal costumes that are vibrant and animated, similar to football mascots or theme park characters.
At least part of the subculture is connected with child grooming, including exposing them to sexual activity and content both in person and online.
"This is sort of a subculture that's born out of the schools themselves teaching and promoting radical gender ideology," says Jonathan Covey, director of policy for Texas Values. "Part of that ideology is that there are many sexual identities that people could take…which is not, in fact, the truth."
He supports Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education, the FURRIES Act, which would keep Texas public schools from allowing furry subculture behavior in classrooms and on campuses.
He says allowing children to present as furries at school invites less extreme issues as well.
"Children start acting in non-human ways," Covey explains. "They act like animals. Of course this is a huge distraction in public school classrooms, not to mention it's a step in the wrong direction for educating kids."
He welcomes anything that starts to get schools back to basics by removing disruptions in the classroom and lowering the amount of indoctrination that kids are subjected to, and he thinks most Texas legislators do as well.
Under GOP Rep. Stan Gerdes' proposal, students would reportedly be prohibited from engaging in various animal behaviors, including using a litter box, licking themselves, making animal noises like barking, meowing, or hissing, or otherwise pretending to be an animal.
Though he predicts some members of the House and Senate will "put politics over the well-being of students," Covey expects the FURRIES Act will move quickly and well supported through both chambers.
