this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2025
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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.

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Can we start torso-kicking these people? Why do we have to be civil?

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 12 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

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".

[–] dukeofdummies@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

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)

[–] baltakatei@sopuli.xyz 22 points 7 hours ago

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”.

[–] pivot_root@lemmy.world 35 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] pageflight@lemmy.world 20 points 7 hours ago

Also to arrest basically any kindergartner.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 28 points 8 hours ago

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.

[–] dontbelasagne@lemmy.world 30 points 9 hours ago

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.

[–] Naich@lemmings.world 25 points 9 hours ago

Priorities.

[–] Krik@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] MooseyMoose@lemmy.world 6 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

How will my friends know I care if I can't lick them? (I don't actually have any though, so it's hypothetical)

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[–] formulaBonk@lemm.ee 29 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org 3 points 3 hours ago

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.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 8 points 8 hours ago

They already lost their porn privileges. Guess they want to lose the rest of the internet, too 🤷🏻‍♂️

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 45 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Texans, next time you look at the prices in the grocery store, remember that this is what your representatives are spending their time on.

[–] pageflight@lemmy.world 11 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Or, you know, when your kids are dying of measles.

[–] valek879@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 hours ago

Or when your kids are dying from school shooters...

[–] WhatYouNeed@lemmy.world 8 points 7 hours ago

"Using tails, leashes, collars" - the B&D crowd isn't going to like that

[–] orclev@lemmy.world 194 points 13 hours ago (20 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.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

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.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 7 points 7 hours ago

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.

[–] PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 18 points 9 hours ago

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.

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

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

[–] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 58 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

And when you try and tell anyone who bought it they say there is evidence, while never being able to provide any.

[–] gibmiser@lemmy.world 22 points 12 hours ago

They will say this legislation proves its real. Why else would this legislation exist? I'm sure the lawmakers have all the evidence.

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[–] something_random_tho@lemmy.world 29 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] nthavoc@lemmy.today 8 points 8 hours ago

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!

[–] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 36 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

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.

[–] limer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 8 hours ago

Former pterodactyl from third grade here

[–] gnutrino@programming.dev 13 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

apparently that is now banned, because otherwise I might have become a scaly, for life?

I'm not seeing a denial...

[–] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 6 points 9 hours ago

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.

[–] angrystego@lemmy.world 25 points 11 hours ago

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.

[–] regrub@lemmy.world 79 points 13 hours ago (5 children)

They're going after easy targets like schools because if they targeted furries in the state government, all of the IT infrastructure would crumble.

[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

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.

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[–] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 55 points 13 hours ago (6 children)

Play Duck Duck Goose? Jail

Face paint? Beleive it or not Jail

Old McDonald? Straight to jail

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[–] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 59 points 13 hours ago (6 children)

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.

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 6 points 9 hours ago

Depends on who you are. If you’re Brock the quarterback, you’ll be fine. If you look a bit queer or neurodivergent or are from a racialised minority, probably not a good idea.

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[–] Fingolfinz@lemmy.world 52 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 26 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Bigotry is a big seller with that crowd.

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[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 27 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Man, republicans really fucking hate freedom.

“You are only allowed to express yourself in ways that are approved by the state!”

[–] Rooskie91@discuss.online 29 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

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[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 22 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

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