Texas lawmakers file FURRIES Act, targeting animal roleplay in schools
Texas lawmakers file FURRIES Act, targeting animal roleplay in schools
The Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education, or FURRIES, Act, filed by Austin-area Republican State Rep. Stan Gerdes, would "prohibit any non-human behavior by a student, including presenting himself or herself, on days other than exempt days, as anything other than a human being."
The law would allow for exempt days, such as Halloween and other school dress-up days.
The law defines "non-human" behavior as "any type of behavior or accessory displayed by a student in a school district other than behaviors or accessories typically displayed by a member of the homo sapiens species," with provided examples being:
Using a litter box for the passing of stool, urine or other human byproducts
A personal or outward display, except during a school play or by a school mascot, through surgical or superficial means of features that are non-human such as using tails, leashes, collars or other accessories designed for pets
Using fur, other than naturally occurring human hair or a wig made to look like human hair
Artificial, animal-like ears
Other physiological features that have not historically been assigned to the human race through a means of natural biological development
Students who bark, meow, hiss or make other animal noises that are not human speech
Licking oneself or others for the purpose of grooming or maintenance.
What world do these people live in? I just can't imagine this is a issue and i imagine that passing a law like this will just lead to kids definitely shitting in litter boxes because breaking the law is fun, imagine the court case of a kid dressed like a cat and pissed in a box.. straight to jail
Other physiological features that have not historically been assigned to the human race through a means of natural biological development
Does that forbid earrings as well? They're non-biological extensions/modifications of the human body.
Man they keep coming back to the litterbox thing, it really freaks them tf out. Even though its been debunked dozens of time, my conservative friends all swear they know a guy that knows a guy that swears he saw one for real!
I would not be able to stop myself from laughing if i saw that happening for real but these people think of it as a threat to their existence, as a crime.
What a witless world we live in.
Maybe the constitution of the United States of America says something about this? Maybe like the first thing in the bill of rights? Nah I must be mistaken.
Schools have to maintain a certain level of order and conformity to function as intended. Courts have already ruled as much. You can't engage in behavior which would prevent the system from working as intended e.g. walk around topless, yell profanities, play loud music, etc - things which you can obviously do in other public spaces. Wearing full body animal costumes or barking randomly, claiming its your identity, is just as ridiculous and just as disorderly.
With that said, schools probably already had the tools they needed to stop this, so I'm not sure why a law was needed. Unless there was actually some furry zealot fighting against a school board.
You can’t engage in behavior which would prevent the system from working as intended
So, enforcing uniformity?
That doesn't matter anymore
Sooooo much freeedommmm.... By limiting self expression.
Republicans are fucking weirdos.
So a furry suit made from human hair is ok? Asking for a friend
Besides them being stupid as hell to conduct this ridiculous culture war, I take issue with another thing, the name:
Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education
It's not unlawful until you forbid it. So the title makes no sense. You're not forbidding the unlawful. You're forbidding the previously lawful, making it unlawful.
Stupid assholes.
Plus the acronym rules are inconsistent. It should be FURRE or FURRORIE
Repugniklan Anger Withering our Rights
Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education
In Texas parties only lawful alignment is allowed. We don't care if your Good or Evil, as long as your not chaotic or neutral.
Oh boy, the fascists have really done it now: they're going after the beastpeople! Beware its poisonous spittle!
Kinda like this one I know the litter shit is bullshit. Though we all knew those annoying ass kids in school.
Yeah some kids are annoying, but they're young and learning how to behave in a society. They shouldn't be handcuffed in school and sent to jail. Nor should other kids live in fear of having what they witnessed happen to them (although that's probably the whole point of this).
These idiot boomers fell for the facebook propaganda.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter_boxes_in_schools_hoax
My barking at people is protected under the first amendment.
Unfortunately students give up their first ammendment rights when they go to school.
That needs to be challenged in court. I get having rules in a school setting, but locking up misbehaving children is mental.
100%
I bark at them using my very human vocal cords (I don't even have any other). Prove me on court that I was not using human vocal cords to bark. Or maybe I was using totally non-human made recording-speaker device?
Or maybe my 1.7m tall fursuit was designed to be weared by my cat? No way even lololong house cat could be that big. (lie, I don't own a fursuit, in any size, but point still apply).
Oh I know! Some tailed buttplugs were totally designed for pets and it is all about being pet care!
tailed buttplugs
The whole comment aside, just for those unaware, if you see someone with a tail in public, or just anywhere outside of sex-centered environment, it's almost surely a belt.
Saw enough memes and internet stories, where some silly joker pulled such tail in public and it was not belt. So many stories, I'm nearly sure at least 1% of them were true.
tailed buttplugs were totally designed for pets
Now o want to see them try to debate this
I admit that I block the furry and all its sexual representation on fedi when I see it. It doesn't turn me on that much and feels weird. But that's the same feeling a woman or man would have towards a gay person of the same sex or similar of different gender. This is sexism at its core. WTF!
Not sexism, just bigotry. I'm not personally down with furries, as in its not my jam, but that doesn't mean i have any right to stop them being who they are. You wanna dress up in a big fur suit, have at'er. It literally doesn't affect me in anyway. I don't like it, so I won't participate in it, that's all.
It doesn’t turn me on that much
That much?
It doesn't turn me on that much
Just a lil' bit furry, check.
Can we start torso-kicking these people? Why do we have to be civil?
Go for the balls instead of the torso
I wonder how much of this is borne out of the hysteria over kids supposedly using litter boxes.
I had some gomer on the Denver Post forums that kept insisting it was not only a thing, but an epidemic. I kept asking him for the supposed evidence of this claim, all he could say was that he "talks to lots and lots of parents and teachers" and "the media won't report on it".
It's trivial to verify. Slap 20 bucks on the table and say "20 bucks you can't list a location with a litterbox for furries"
“talks to lots and lots of parents and teachers” and “the media won’t report on it”.
Ain't gonna get you 20 bucks. Need a location. If you get a location, call 'em. They'll confirm or deny. (They're gonna deny)
Students who bark, meow, hiss or make other animal noises that are not human speech
I'm not quite sure what it is exactly (/s), but maybe—just maybe—this is yet another attempt to fuck over and ostracize transfem and autistic people, but instead of being direct about it, using furries as the boogeyman.
There are very many normal human sounds that are not speech, including, but not limited to: laughter, crying, yelling/screaming/yelping (in surprise, pain, fear), groaning, moaning, yawning, sneezing, coughing, vomiting, singing, whistling.
What constitutes human speech? There are languages that have sounds that don't exist in other languages (said as someone still trying to get a hold on rolling my Rs).
In any case, we should all learn some sign language. Seriously, it's useful to be able to communicate silently or just visually (e.g. Across a noisy room), plus it makes life way more inclusive for Deaf people.
For once Im halfheartedly glad it's not related to transgender. Still shitty nonetheless,
Also to arrest basically any kindergartner.
Filing this under “Closeted conservative so ashamed of their kink that, instead of discussing their feelings with a therapist, psychiatrist, or even a trusted friend, believe everyone must share their taboo thoughts and therefore be preëmptively punished to stamp out the contagion since the only honorable alternative is undergoing apoptosis like some malfunctioning cell”.
Imposing this bullshit on children who often have vivid imaginations and like to play make believe shows just how much the Republican party actually cares about children.
Man they are still caught up on that fake story somebody sent to one of these morons claiming kids were using litter boxes in school. It never happened but they're going to try to legislate it away anyway.
The lesson here is don't troll these idiots, they'll fucking believe it and then start passing idiotic laws for non-problems.
The lesson here is don’t troll these idiots
Maybe the lesson is to troll harder until they legislate themselves into ruin?
These are the same sort of dumbfucks that absolutely believed the "LSD stickers/tattoos" bullshit way, way back and would insist on schools passing out flyers based on that stupid urban legend.
I remember being in sixth grade when they had a bout of that going around our school, and I was like, wait, what? And I had a lot of doubts. And that's when I was in sixth grade. Years later, you could look it up and see what nonsense it was. Anyway, I was at TWO different jobs where someone was trying to "inform parents" with some printouts they had about you guessed it, the bullshit LSD stickers nonsense. The first time, I told them "you know, this is urban legend, right?" I get immediately treated like I'm some kind of criminal that does not want to protect the children.
I suspect the bullshit around litter boxes will have a similar lifetime among those that are hard of thinking.
The lesson here is don't troll these idiots, they'll fucking believe it and then start passing idiotic laws for non-problems.
Throwback to when 4chan started memeing about pizzas, and the resulting chain of events led to a real pizza parlor being shot up by a right-wing nut job who thought it was full of pedophiles.
I don’t see how they ignored an actual case of sexual assault at a pizza parlor…oh it’s because he was a Republican mega donor.
Also, the Google results for ‘Vander Esch assault pizza ranch’ have at least five different “digital newspapers” pushed to the top of the results with a different story that does not match the record of the legal proceedings.
The weird thing is for some reason people will lie to perpetuate these falsehoods
Like I do therapy and I talk to teenagers regularly because teenagers need mental health support, obviously. And sometimes they’ll bring up shit like this: “my school installed a litter box because of these woke kids”
But even the most basic of prodding: “did they really” with a tone of like “come on” and they’ll backpedal, “well no, but like there are kids that have fursonas and shit”
It’s crazy to see it start so young. They’re realizing at like 16 they can get adults to gang up on the kid they think is weird by being dishonest, and adults buy into it because it’s a chance to bully someone weaker and politicians jump on it because it’s a new wedge issue to distract people from class consciousness
And what’s crazy is that by some perspectives if I call them out on this dishonesty and point out this cycle I’m indoctrinating them
And when you try and tell anyone who bought it they say there is evidence, while never being able to provide any.
They will say this legislation proves its real. Why else would this legislation exist? I'm sure the lawmakers have all the evidence.
I've just taken to saying "provide me with evidence or shut the fuck up" usually followed closely by "how about one that's from multiple independent sources and not from a fox opinion piece or personal blog"
IIRC it did have a hint of truth, like most things do. They then spun a totally different story from it. The hint of truth is it was for school shootings where they couldn't leave the classroom for an extended period of time.
Instead of addressing the real issue, which is that school shootings have become so common that preparations like this need to be made, they spun it into a story that the schools were pandering towards furries. As always, it's all smoke and mirrors to keep people distracted and give them an enemy, so they don't force representatives to actually help them.
It’s funny a Portuguese person just told me the same story happened in PT to justify anti-trans positions. So it’s the same bullshit story, localized, and repeated.
Just like how antisemitic stereotypes with no basis (blood libel etc.) have been repeated in many countries for hundreds of years. Even before the internet, memes were used for the effective spreading of suspicion and hatred.
I always love using that example to dismiss some concerns about deepfakes sparking national conspiracies.
Nobody even tried to fake a picture of it. I've seen photos on lemmy of people shaving their heads in weird ways or making some horrible bean-themed food just for the karma. Throwing an empty litter box in an empty classroom takes much less effort yet nobody even bothered.
I did a small dive and found an account of an apparent legit case of a litter box in a school, but it was for an option for extended school shooting drills
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/03/school-shooting-preparations/amp/
Yup, camp toilets are a similar concept. It’s just a 5 gallon hardware store bucket with a snap-on toilet seat lid. You line it with what is essentially a trash bag, just to make disposal easier. Then you use a gelling agent (just like what is in disposable diapers to allow them to soak up a bunch of moisture) to reduce sloshing and smell. It’s handy for when you’re going to be away from toilets for a day or two, but don’t want to (or aren’t able to) dig a hole to shit in.
But the same concept applies for when you’re going to be trapped somewhere (like a classroom) for an extended period of time. Like, for instance, during a school shooting. When you have 30 kids in a classroom, there’s a very good chance that at least one of them will need to piss after an hour or two. And nobody wants to deal with human waste in something like an open trashcan during a lockdown.
And as an added bonus, the bucket can be used to store all of active shooter supplies when it’s not in use. So everything is in a single location to quickly grab and prep. Active shooter happens? Great, just grab the big bucket out of the closet, dump all of the supplies out, and you’re ready to go. Now all of your tourniquets, styptic bandages, etc are accessible.
But it quickly got distorted into “they’re making kids use litter boxes to indoctrinate them” instead.
That's how this whole "kids are identifying as cats and using litter boxes at school" shitshow started.
The lesson here is don't troll these idiots, they'll fucking believe it and then start passing idiotic laws for non-problems.
Exactly this. Just like flat earthers (and that super bizarre one about time cubes or whatever), the rubes will gobble it up and eventually people will get hurt over it.
Another one is the Birds Aren't Real meme, which I think is pretty funny, but you just know that an innocent birdwatcher will get shot some day because an extremely mentally unwell person will assume that they're some government spook checking on the "drones".
what? absolutely troll these idiots now that you know they are very susceptible.
just do it in a way they pass good laws out of fear instead.
This idiocy must be weaponized
While you're right about that being fake, it's just pandering to their base who do take issue with forms of self-expression that are common amongst queer, trans and/or autistic students. Things like wearing a collar, a tail or cat ears are absolutely relatively common and this bill targets those all the same.
My daughters love wearing cat-ear headbands. It's cute, they like it, end of story. Nobody has thrown a fit about it yet... 🤞🤞
The lesson here is to actually troll these idiots, but with stuff that lead to idiotic laws so inconvenient that even their voter base will hate them for it.
Give them enough rope, and they'll hang themselves with it.
Or they'll lynch us.
Texans, next time you look at the prices in the grocery store, remember that this is what your representatives are spending their time on.
Or, you know, when your kids are dying of measles.
Or when your kids are dying from school shooters...
So they're scared of people becoming furries. I know a few furries, not in the scene myself but furries are genuinely some of the nicest people I know. And also this bill seems ableist because I knew an autistic person that would growl whenever he had a meltdown. He wasn't a furry, it was just how he was wired.
Licking oneself or others for the purpose of grooming or maintenance.
Good luck trying to enforce that. Most people lick a small wound on their hands an fingers. It's our subconscious that triggers that.
Priorities.
I can’t wait for all IT infrastructure in Texas to get compromised over this. The amount of excellent it and comp sci guys that are furries is staggering. And there are a few online collectives that can and will do damage to personal and government entities over shit like this
The amount of excellent it and comp sci guys that are furries is staggering.
Computers don't judge. And you can be anything you want behind a screen.
They already lost their porn privileges. Guess they want to lose the rest of the internet, too 🤷🏻♂️
They're going after easy targets like schools because if they targeted furries in the state government, all of the IT infrastructure would crumble.
I'm frankly shocked it hasn't already, the pay for government IT jobs is kinda shit, and they've been trying to slash federal employee benefits for years (theres been recent rumors of increasing mandatory FERS deductions and turning insurance into a voucher program). they've started going after anyone LGBTQ+ federally as well.
Ultimately the problem is that that works in their favour. Remember the Republican position is "The Government doesn't work and if you put me in charge of it I'll prove it!", so the only thing they need to do is destroy anything they can get their hands on. The only part of the government they care about (other than their specific seat) is the military. They will gleefully watch everything else burn and then point at the ashes as proof they were right all along.
Hah, that made me chuckle. I recently attended an outdoor market in my area that for some reason had an unusually high number of furries wandering around it. I was really curious what the bus factor of that market would actually be.
Can we still say "what's up, dawg?"
It is funny that the litter box story was taken as gospel.
What a time to be alive.
It’s incredible that republicans can constantly waste tax dollars on worthless shit like this and still be viewed as the party of financial responsibility by their dumb ass voting base
Bigotry is a big seller with that crowd.
That’s a really good point I didn’t consider. Just like it was with “eggs”, the “financial responsibility” crap really is just a front they put up in bad faith to avoid admitting that it’s all about racism
Wow.
I remember learning about dinosaurs as an elementary schooler after Jurassic Park came out, and spending a few months on the playground pretending to be a velociraptor (well technically they're closer to deinonychous but w/e) ... apparently that is now banned, because otherwise I might have become a scaly, for life?
Wonderful.
apparently that is now banned, because otherwise I might have become a scaly, for life?
I'm not seeing a denial...
Closest I ever got to being a scaly was... enjoying those old dinosaur comics from almost two decades ago, where the gimmick was it was the exact same 4 panels every time, buy with different dialogue?
But uh no, I do not have a ... scale suit? Scale-sona? I don't even know if thats the right terminology.
I just had a few friends who were DeviantArtists decades ago, and am vaguely aware via osmosis that there is a subset of furries with dino personas.
Former pterodactyl from third grade here
So children are not allowed to play anymore. It breaks my heart knowing how important expressing the connection to a favourite animal is for many kids. I know nazis go for easy targets, but the fact they target children is just nauseating to me.
The Puritans also tried to stifle kids' play, along with secular music, dancing and card playing. That led to the monarchy being restored and Cromwell's corpse being dug up, decapitated and the head put on a spike.
That reminds me strongly of today's Afghanistan.
Man, republicans really fucking hate freedom.
“You are only allowed to express yourself in ways that are approved by the state!”
Any behavior humans do is human behavior, this law is legally dubious at best. Mimicking animals has been a human thing since humans came to be.
Okay seriously, did someone write this law just so it could be contested in court??
The forbid non human speech is written as onomatopoeias. Like how can you call that stuff nonhuman speech after literally writing it in human language? If I read this part of the law out loud am I violating the law?
I could also see the rights to perform cultural religious dances being infringed upon by this law.
I'd argue that the most inhuman behavior is coming from the Texas legislature.
Good thing made up stories from social media prompt lawmakers to pass laws at record breaking speed rather than do something about the fires burning right in front of them. Let's see what other bullshit that can be made up to get things done!
What the fuck are they looking to do, arrest kids who say "meow" in school?
Gives them excuses to punish "weird"/non-perfectly-conforming kids. The definition of the actual law is broad and open to more or less any interpretation you want it to have.
No, they'll arrest their parents if they aren't white
"Using tails, leashes, collars" - the B&D crowd isn't going to like that
Licking oneself or others for the purpose of grooming or maintenance
Wtf, they can't lick their fingers after eating meow? Or use a little spit to fix a popped up hair or eyebrow? This is stupid woof.
Nope. You gotta piss on it like a good god fearing Christian.
fReE sPeEcH
If you’re still in Texas, and not a furry, GTFO before they criminalize something YOU think is normal and harmless.
That's what I'm repeatedly told :( it just feels like giving up and abandoning those who can't escape as easily. I'd rather stay and support them despite being transgender myself. Im just hoping in '26 we can replace Paxton and in '28 our country course corrects in a huge way.
If they come for our search history, we all quit work and start throwing the eggs.
Eggs.
Eggs.
Eggs.
I feel they put more effort into coming up with an acronym that into planning the actual act. I’m pretty sure in the early 90s punk phase people wore collars for fashion too.
How about focusing all this effort and passing a bill to prevent officers being pussies during an active shooter situation like in Uvalde??
But you can lick yourself and others for… other purposes?
Well yeah, somebody has to give the coaches blowjobs
Forbid child to play animals, they will do it when grow up, just see how much Trump likes to be Putin’s dog.
Republicans outlawing catboys? That’s gonna make the republicans mad.
As usual, the GOP is laser-focused on the most important matters facing the American public today
There is no way this is real, is it?
Only in clown country 🎪🇺🇸
We live in a parody.
Make reactionaries angry at this law by saying it bans children from wearing fur.
A personal or outward display, except during a school play or by a school mascot, through surgical or superficial means of features that are non-human such as using tails, leashes, collars or other accessories designed for pets
what kind of kinky ass school mascots do Texans have
Man, kindergarten is gonna be really tough for any kid who has ever seen an animal. Also, gotta lock up everyone at Fisher Price for grooming children with the See 'n Say
Singing Old McDonald is now illegal.
"Old McDonald had a farm, E I E I O. And on that farm he had a cow, E I E I O. With a 'm- ON THE GROUND, MOTHERFUCKER!!!! I got you now, you sonofabitch!"
Mother Goose's tales of entrapment
There goes any school plays with animal characters
I loved acting like a dog as a kid. We often played things like pokemon or lion king, etc. Soooo kids just can't "play animals" anymore? Wtf.
I've checked what comm I'm in and the URL several times, this is [email protected]
There's all sorts of crazy shit filed in the Texas House every legislative session, bills like this are basically never going to get a hearing or leave committee
And if I identity as an extraterrestrial autonomous exploration and research unit, with a general mission directive of learning about humanity first hand?
As long as you purr like an engine and not a cat, you're fine