It do be that way.

There's a lot of anti-furry sentiment here comparing it to beastiality and zoophilia which is nothing new, but it's too early in the morning for this.

To all those arguing this: You do not understand what being a furry is.

The furry community is firmly against fucking real animals as they obviously cannot consent. Any sex that happens in the community is among consenting adults. It isn't a "stepping stone" to fucking animals either. The community has worked hard to expel zoophiles (people actually fucking animals) and Nazis (different tangent but also interesting).

The sensory experience of fur (or scales or feathers) is nice, and wondering what having a tail or multiple appendages would be like is fun, but some people have a problem with it when adults want to enjoy that with other adults.

This video is the best explanation I've encountered on the topic and has way more information than what I can put in a comment. NSFW and there's a lot of sex jokes strung throughout.

https://youtu.be/ws9g3igw51s?si=pcILDYodPTi-0ZuU

TL; DW: There is a common experience of being dehumanized which the LGBT+ community experiences as well as those who are autistic which is one of many reasons both groups are drawn to the community. Animal comparisons are a good way of contextualizing how you would like to be interacted with. Furry is nothing new, and we have plenty of depictions of gods seducing people as animals because of the juxtaposition of power dynamics, divinity, humanity, masc, and fem.

I credit the fediverse, specifically Mastodon with ahem "humanizing" furries for me. I never had any exposure to them outside of memes and jokes before that. Now they are just members of another harmless subculture to me. Furries (and trans peeps!) also seem to be overrepresented in the fediverse and infosec communities, so respect and thanks to all the rad furries out there!

I combine them. Gimme a bright, rainbow colored dog suit.

- The anti-furry dogwhistle is overwhelmingly used for anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. The furry community is almost fully LGBTQ+ (80%+), and the idea that the LGBTQ+ community would be at odds with them shows that you are really misunderstanding the point of the rainbow flag. As the OP meme notes, furries have part of the LGBTQ+ community for a very long time and if you think this is some new phenomenon I really wonder what you're doing trying to speak for us.
- As far as I know being a furry isn't about sexual attraction to animals, that's a misunderstanding on your part I'm pretty sure.
- Thank you! Someone finally said it
  People who don’t think furrys are sexual haven’t accidentally been invited to a furry party in San Francisco like I have. Trust me, they are pretending to be dogs fucking, and it crosses the beastiality line.
  Furrys are not a part of the LGBTQI+ community.
- Ignoring everything else I could say about your comment: What's wrong with RPing non-consensual situations?
- Furries and animal-fuckers are different groups. And if you're lumping them together, you're bound to get criticized for it.
  FYI: furries are people with an interest/love for anthropomorphic animals.

My friends look like the left panel.

I have friends in both panels. As a 6-foot goblin I am less fabulous than either, but love and regard you all as a point of principle.

Well, the comments of this thread show me that it’s time to leave this lemmy community

Trust me. No one is going to miss you.
Permanently banned for bigotry, hatred, and a failure to follow rule 1.
- Close minded how, exactly?

In my experience people like on the left tend to be upper class so that's probably why they're marketed to. There's a lot of jokes about furries all being engineers and aircraft technicians and stuff but there's not really enough rich ones to be worth marketing to for massive corporations. No offense but that kind of "gay pride" stuff is bougie as fuck these days. I feel alienated by it but not by the furry fandom despite not being a furry.

fursuits apparently are extremely expensive so i guess only people with high enough salaries can own them, that might explain the stereotype