Furries In The Media

9 Facts About Furries That Will Totally Change The Way You Think About Them

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/sex-and-love/a30611961/what-is-a-furry/


yeah more things written about furries.
-Dia

https://dogpatch.press/2020/01/23/martial-arts-hero/

The Furry Karate Hero who stopped an assault at Fur Con
by Patch O'Furr
“I threw my paws to the ground and took my head and collar off” — The last thing they see before the furpile.



In San Jose on January 17, fursuiters were cooling off outside Further Confusion‘s main hotel. That’s when a car stopped short, and they heard the driver screaming “Get out!” She was being beaten. Onlookers ran to the car and pulled a male passenger off of her.

“Among the first on scene was the pink dinosaur, who wrested the suspect by the head and shoulders while a massive tail bobbed in his wake” – The Mercury News

Kin Z. Shiratsuki is the furry they quoted: “This guy was just walloping a lady,” Shiratsuki said. “He had to have hit her 10 times.” But wait, pink dinosaur? She’s a KOBOLD/ROO (also sometimes a purple gryphon). Get it right… read furry news!

The group of helpers show that not all heroes wear capes — some wear fursuits. They can join the ranks with furries in a past story who helped crash victims escape a car on fire.

Kin is often at local SF Bay Area meets and responded to a Q&A.

Hi Kin. Did you see the video of the incident went around a lot? It even made CNN’s front page.

Oh gosh it did, meep meep I did not see. I just saw one Twitter post and a Facebook post. I’m just glad that the cops came and arrested the guy.

What’s the story from being on the scene?

I was walking around the corner in suit with a friend. I heard some people talking, and focused on two in the car. As soon as I saw what was happening I yelled at the group of people, “get the car door open, get him out of there!” and they acted. I told people to call 911, and called myself.


The people who were trying to get him out of the car couldn’t calm him down, or handle him, and he started getting aggressive to them. I threw my paws to the ground and took my head and collar off and ran over to help.

Since I have been studying two forms of martial arts my whole life (taekwondo and karate) I was able to pull him from the vehicle and detain him on the ground with minimum violence needed.

I even tried to let him get up. I was telling him “calm down, get it together” and tried to let him up two times. Both times he just kept trying to attack me or somebody else. The last time I pinned him down and security finally came over and escorted him over to an area until the police arrived.

From the stories I was hearing, it was her lover. He very much was either very drunk or on something. When the police were putting him in the back of the car, he was screaming at the top of his lungs like a kid “I’m not resisting arrest!”

Ever had to use martial arts by surprise before?

This was actually the first time.

What do you think about being in the news and being called a dinosaur?

I’m just happy the lady is okay and if they called me a dinosaur that’s okay. I just was doing it to help the lady and defuse the situation. I am glad I could help and get her away from him.

According to police, a 22-year-old San Jose resident was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of domestic violence. Fur Con went on with 4,509 furry fans from around the world, and raised $20,452 to benefit the The Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Center.

Furries set to break Pittsburgh attendance record
https://www.wtae.com/article/furries-on-parade-in-pittsburgh-this-saturday/28294302

Post about AC.

PITTSBURGH —
If there seem to be constant sightings of fur-wearing visitors, there's a reason.

Organizers of the 14th annual Anthrocon convention say they're expecting to break last year's attendance record with up to 10,000 visitors this year.

They've come from many cities across the U.S. and from more than 20 countries, according to a spokesperson for the convention.

The theme for this year is "Surf Pacific," so be prepared for some festive summer outfits in this year's parade.

The fifth annual Fursuit Walk will take place Saturday, July 6, at 2 p.m.

2,132 "fursuiters" paraded around the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

A meet-and-greet with the "fursuiters" was also held following the parade.

“We are excited to welcome back Anthrocon for the 14th year, as this convention continues to be a summer highlight in Pittsburgh,” said Craig Davis, president and chief executive officer of VisitPITTSBURGH. “Since 2006, and including 2019, Anthrocon has contributed $71 million in direct spending to Pittsburgh’s economy. We thank the Anthrocon organizers for continuing to choose Pittsburgh to host their convention.”

Since 2006, Anthrocon has raised nearly $295,000 for animal-related charities in Pennsylvania, leaving behind a legacy of philanthropy in Pittsburgh. This year, the convention has selected PEARL Parrots Rescue as the charity it will support.

Other Links:
http://www.pittsburghcc.com/events/anthrocon-2019/
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/07/04/anthrocon-2019-kicks-off-in-downtown-pittsburgh/
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/07/06/fursuit-parade-and-furry-ccino/
https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/pittsburgh-furries-furries-descend-on-pittsburgh-for-anthrocon-19/956066098
https://www.post-gazette.com/life/lifestyle/2019/07/06/Anthrocon-2019-Furries-Parade-Pittsburgh-FurScience-Sharon-Roberts/stories/201907070067
https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/07/anthrocon-furry-convention-pittsburgh-schedule/


-J

https://twitter.com/hashtag/FURRYHISTORY?src=hash

WOW! This is interesting:

ConFurence 0, the very first Furry Convention, was held on January 21st-22nd 1989 in Costa Mesa, California. It is the 30th anniversary. There were 65 attendees, two of which were fursuiters.


If you have interesting Furry History, post here and on #FurryHistory on Twitter!
-Dia

This is actually done QUITE well.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK5XyvDCBfI&feature=youtu.be

-Dia

Another interesting thing to read.

US Navy woman spends her free time dressing up as a giant HUSKY DOG in a homemade 'fursuit' - but she insists it's NOT a 'sexual fetish' and says her husband and colleagues fully support her 'furry' lifestyle



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6405871/US-Navy-woman-dresses-giant-HUSKY-DOG-homemade-fursuit.html

-Dia

Take a look!

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/us/furries-culture/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/us/furries-culture/index.html

The show is on this week I believe.
-Dia

https://www.recon.com/en/News/Article/2619

from Recon News11 February 2018For some, the furry identity – or 'fursona' - they adopt when they don their animal suit of choice is pure escapism, with no sexual subtext whatsoever. This is Recon though, so we're focusing our attention on furries as a fetish.

What is a furry?

Broadly speaking, furries are those who like to dress up as anthropomorphic animals; animal characters that have humanlike abilities, like walking and talking – some of these also have overtly masculine physiques. Originally emerging from the cosplay scene, furry subculture has grown exponentially since, becoming a global movement in its own right with dedicated furry conventions all over the world.

Many furries choose animal fursonas that they feel reflect their personalities or that embody qualities they would like to have more of. Fursonas can allow many furries to become a different version of themselves, usually one that's more confident and less inhibited, a kind of 'idealised' self. A fursuit that completely hides a guy's identity can make this even easier.

Furry gear varies though, some furries opt for full body fursuits that cover them from head to toe, some have 'partial' suits that cover just the head, arms and legs, while other just wear a tail and/or ears to tap into their fursonas.

Furries and fetish

Being a furry means different things to different people; for some it's just a way to express their fandom of the kind of animal characters we see in cartoons, movies and videogames. For furry fetish men however there's more to it, and the furry fandom can be a way to meet like-minded guys.

Furry fetish comes with its own set of terminology, including 'scritching' – grooming one another's fur, and 'fur pile' – a group of furries lying on top of each other and scritching, which can be a part of furry play. 'Yiffing' is sex between furries, which takes its name from the sound foxes make when they mate, and some furries incorporate their animal fursonas into roleplay with other furries.

Yiffing may or may not involve wearing fursuits, although there are suits specially designed with cut out sections around the crotch that means they can be worn during play, known as murrsuits. Suit-clad play can be known as 'murrsuiting', although some furries prefer to wear just the head or mask of their fursuit to help them stay in character.

Where fetishes meet and blend together, there can also be a power play or bondage element involved in yiffing for some furries. For some, their fursona is also a sub or a Dom, which again can be an accentuation of the traits of their animal counterpart.

Getting involved in furry fetish

Furry porn is a good place to start, there's a wealth of both animated furry porn art and live action yiffing content out there. If there's something specific you want to see, you can even commission your own piece from a furry porn artist.

You can buy pre-made fursuits from specialist sellers and auction sites, although many furries prefer to go for a custom-made suit that allows them to bring their personal fursona to life. Although they may not advertise the fact, many fursuiters also make murrsuits.

Before you invest in a suit though, it's worth going along to a furry convention first to get a taste of the scene. The fetish side of the furry fandom tends to be underrepresented at most cons, but that's not to say that it's not going on after hours and behind closed doors. 'Furclubbing' is also taking off around the world; furry club nights that mean furries don't have to wait for a con to hit the dancefloor.

Take a look at WikiFur for a list of international furry conventions to find out more.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/14/san-jose-furcon-brings-furries-and-their-animal-costumes-downtown/

Seven photos, and even a video! Go watch :)

SAN JOSE — By Sunday morning, after partying all weekend in heavy, head-to-toe animal costumes, many FurCon attendees outside the convention center downtown had scaled down to just their tails or paws.

As much as dressing up like a plush, cartoon version of a wolf, fox or ferret has become an identity, or an alter ego, even “Furries” need a break.

“The struggle is real, man,” said Jordan Leach, 24, who swung around his thick blue, black and white tail as he slid into a booth at The Flames restaurant Sunday morning for “Bottomless Mimosas.” If he were wearing his outsize fox-coyote hybrid head, he wouldn’t be able to eat anything bigger than a cracker and would need an extra long straw for a drink. Still, he said, “even when I’m not in full fur suit, I’ll always have my tail on.”

After a weekend of parades, poker and dodge ball tournaments, the 20th annual FurCon in San Jose that has attracted some 3,500 Furries is wrapping up after its “Dead Dog Dance” Monday night.

Furry creatures take part in a dog sled race during festivities at the 12th annual Further Confusion convention at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose on Jan. 24, 2010. FurCon celebrates the anthropomorphics genre with people dressing as furry creatures that have human and animal characteristics. (Gary Reyes/Mercury News)
Furry creatures take part in a dog sled race during festivities at the 12th annual Further Confusion convention at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose on Jan. 14, 2010. FurCon celebrates the anthropomorphics genre with people dressing as furry creatures that have human and animal characteristics. (Gary Reyes/Mercury News)
While outsiders might still find the idea of adults assuming an animal persona a bit bewildering, the Furries say they’re not that much different than other costumed subcultures, like Trekkies dressing up like Klingons and Cosplay fans dressing up like Game of Thrones characters. Some are even cross-promoting, like a group of Klingons did at the Marriott Hotel on Saturday night. Like other sponsors, the Klingons handed out free drinks from their room on the 4th floor, the “party floor” at the hotel, which installed wall-to-wall clear plastic tarps spanning every room and hallway.

As much as FurCon has been a non-stop party — and stigmatized by the sexualized nature of some of the activities — Furries say it is a welcoming place for people who feel marginalized or unaccepted by larger society.

“I come from a conservative family. I’ve struggled with my sexuality. This has helped me come to terms,” said a 30-year-old East Bay man, who only felt comfortable giving his Furry name, Ozzy Koala. “Radical self expression is a big part of it. Once people are putting on animals suits, everything else is out the window.”

Furries have attracted many from the LGBTQ community, as well as those on the autism spectrum, he said, who are looking for accepting, creative communities.

“There are a lot of Transfurs,” he said of transgender Furries. “It starts with putting on a costume that is literally a different gender. People get to feel what that’s like for the first time.”

For another convention goer from the East Bay, also uncomfortable giving his real name, “this was the social environment that gave me the ability to say I’m OK with myself.”

Many Furries became captivated by anthropomorphism — giving human characteristics to animals — as children by watching Disney’s talking animal classics, like Bambi and Lion King, or watching Looney Tunes’s Bugs Bunny.

“When I was a kid, I was like, I wish I was an animal, damn it,” said Leach, who also goes by the name “Foyote.” “Just think how it would be to be an animal and be able to talk.”

Not everyone at the convention wears an animal costume, which can become overwhelmingly hot. The custom, plush costumes can be expensive, between $2,000 and $10,000. Some are equipped with flashing LEDs that light up tails and make eyes glow, and liquid cooling systems inside.

“But if that gets damaged, you’re leaking everywhere,” said Russell Bumala, 30, of La Honda.

In costume or not, Leach says he is happy to express himself.

“It’s been such an extreme positive life change,” he said. “It’s opened me up socially. I was living a boring life before I got into fandom. Now I’m having a great time.”

Yep... Furries made it to @Midnight :)

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/p1lhwc/-midnight-with-chris-hardwick-a-furry-alternative-to-comic-con

-Dia

Yep... Furries made it to @Midnight :)

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/p1lhwc/-midnight-with-chris-hardwick-a-furry-alternative-to-comic-con

-Dia

Interesting read!
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/how-furries-became-a-fandom

-Dia

Interesting read!
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/how-furries-became-a-fandom

-Dia

https://t.co/2ahjFD9FpD

Another one I found: http://rabblevid.com/video/anthrocon-furries-return-pittsburgh/


enjoy!

-Dia

https://t.co/2ahjFD9FpD

Another one I found: http://rabblevid.com/video/anthrocon-furries-return-pittsburgh/


enjoy!

-Dia

And... another one...
http://www.avclub.com/article/even-furries-are-no-longer-safe-neo-nazi-meddling-253748?utm_content=Main&utm_campaign=SF&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing



From the A.V. CLUB
Even furries are no longer safe from neo-Nazi meddling
By Alex McLevy @alexm247
Posted yesterday at 12:59 p.m.


Photo: Carston Koall/Stringer/Getty
Photo: Carston Koall/Stringer/Getty

“First they came for the men dressed as giant furry rabbits, and I did nothing.” This is a sentence you may yet see when the future history of the rise of the “alt-right” (read: fascist neo-Nazis) in our contemporary era is written. A recent online conflagration that led to the cancelation of a furry convention in Colorado has shown that even the world of people who enjoy walking around as giant plush animals isn’t safe from incursion by assholes. The Daily Beast reports that Rocky Mountain Fur Con, an annual summit held in Denver for furries, has been shut down due to the activities of a group known as “Furry Raiders,” a name that actually pairs quite well with “Sad Puppies” and other like-minded groups that appear to have a real problem with minorities.

However, Furry Raiders has done its best to distance itself from these reprehensible ideologies. Or at least they’ve tried to make a show of such distancing. It doesn’t help that the group’s leader is named “Foxler” and dresses in a red armband that is identical to a Nazi armband, save for replacing the swastika with a paw print. If you listen to a lengthy YouTube video he posted last month, Foxler (who is quick to assure people it’s a portmanteau of “Fox” and his supposed surname “Miller,” and not a much more obvious play on “Hitler”) does his best to use the language of diversity and inclusion, saying the Furry Raiders welcome all people of all stripes or species, and that personal expression of any kind is very important to them. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that the main kind of free expression Foxler wants to defend is the right to dress like an anthropomorphic Nazi fox. Also, if you’re pleading for respect for diversity in your desire to dress like a Nazi, maybe don’t send an empathetic tweet of that desire to Richard “I’ll always be the white supremacist who got punched in the face” Spencer. It looks bad.

https://twitter.com/starfoxACEFOX/status/823998732601622529/photo/1

Nonetheless, Foxler, who claims to have been ignorant of WWII history and any resemblance to literally one of the most notorious ideologies in world history, says the events that led to Fur Con’s cancelation are a big misunderstanding. It seems the rise of #AltFurry, a hashtag for furries who presumably don’t care much for women or people of color, led to condemnations of the look and ideas behind Furry Raiders, a group with a “very confusing past and a very confusing history,” according to Fur Con chairman Zachary Brooks, who might have a bit of his own confusion about the difference between the past and history. Regardless, in 2016, after it was announced what hotel the convention would be at, Furry Raiders quickly booked a massive block of rooms, preventing others not affiliated with the group from making any reservations. (“I had like a spare 10 extra rooms,” Foxler notes.) It was “seen by many as a malicious act by them to try to control who could and couldn’t attend. So that’s what really began the controversy with them,” Brooks continued.

From there, other furries began to discover overlap between the Fur Con board and Furry Raiders, and when a furry named Deo (who hadn’t even planned to attend Fur Con) made a crack on Twitter about how she “can’t wait to punch these Nazis” (this was right on the heels of Spencer getting clocked for all the world to see) and got the response that someone would “enjoying watching Deo get shot at the convention.” She notified the authorities, the hotel informed Fur Con it would require a security force that would cost more than twenty thousand dollars, and that was pretty much it for the convention. Whether Foxler himself espouses fascist ideology is unknown—Furry Raiders have started making rainbow armbands, among other colors, as a way to show its commitment to diversity—it seems obvious there are some in the #AltFurry community more than happy to wreck other people’s enjoyment of the non-fascist things in life, like being very, very committed to dressing up as cartoonish mammals.

There’s a whole other aspect to the story that involves a member of the Fur Con board being involved with sovereign citizen activities and also a convicted sex offender, which is probably not high on the list of things with which furries want to be associated. Also, other furries discovered Fur Con, which claimed to be run by a nonprofit, had actually had that status revoked back in 2011 for failure to file statements with the IRS. Basically, it’s a whole mess, and a lot of it can be chalked up to a likely small group of guys who start statements with things like, “I’m not a neo-Nazi, but...” This is why we can’t have nice things, or even harmless but slightly unsettling things, depending on your views of the furry community.

And... another one...
http://www.avclub.com/article/even-furries-are-no-longer-safe-neo-nazi-meddling-253748?utm_content=Main&utm_campaign=SF&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing



From the A.V. CLUB
Even furries are no longer safe from neo-Nazi meddling
By Alex McLevy @alexm247
Posted yesterday at 12:59 p.m.


Photo: Carston Koall/Stringer/Getty
Photo: Carston Koall/Stringer/Getty

“First they came for the men dressed as giant furry rabbits, and I did nothing.” This is a sentence you may yet see when the future history of the rise of the “alt-right” (read: fascist neo-Nazis) in our contemporary era is written. A recent online conflagration that led to the cancelation of a furry convention in Colorado has shown that even the world of people who enjoy walking around as giant plush animals isn’t safe from incursion by assholes. The Daily Beast reports that Rocky Mountain Fur Con, an annual summit held in Denver for furries, has been shut down due to the activities of a group known as “Furry Raiders,” a name that actually pairs quite well with “Sad Puppies” and other like-minded groups that appear to have a real problem with minorities.

However, Furry Raiders has done its best to distance itself from these reprehensible ideologies. Or at least they’ve tried to make a show of such distancing. It doesn’t help that the group’s leader is named “Foxler” and dresses in a red armband that is identical to a Nazi armband, save for replacing the swastika with a paw print. If you listen to a lengthy YouTube video he posted last month, Foxler (who is quick to assure people it’s a portmanteau of “Fox” and his supposed surname “Miller,” and not a much more obvious play on “Hitler”) does his best to use the language of diversity and inclusion, saying the Furry Raiders welcome all people of all stripes or species, and that personal expression of any kind is very important to them. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that the main kind of free expression Foxler wants to defend is the right to dress like an anthropomorphic Nazi fox. Also, if you’re pleading for respect for diversity in your desire to dress like a Nazi, maybe don’t send an empathetic tweet of that desire to Richard “I’ll always be the white supremacist who got punched in the face” Spencer. It looks bad.

https://twitter.com/starfoxACEFOX/status/823998732601622529/photo/1

Nonetheless, Foxler, who claims to have been ignorant of WWII history and any resemblance to literally one of the most notorious ideologies in world history, says the events that led to Fur Con’s cancelation are a big misunderstanding. It seems the rise of #AltFurry, a hashtag for furries who presumably don’t care much for women or people of color, led to condemnations of the look and ideas behind Furry Raiders, a group with a “very confusing past and a very confusing history,” according to Fur Con chairman Zachary Brooks, who might have a bit of his own confusion about the difference between the past and history. Regardless, in 2016, after it was announced what hotel the convention would be at, Furry Raiders quickly booked a massive block of rooms, preventing others not affiliated with the group from making any reservations. (“I had like a spare 10 extra rooms,” Foxler notes.) It was “seen by many as a malicious act by them to try to control who could and couldn’t attend. So that’s what really began the controversy with them,” Brooks continued.

From there, other furries began to discover overlap between the Fur Con board and Furry Raiders, and when a furry named Deo (who hadn’t even planned to attend Fur Con) made a crack on Twitter about how she “can’t wait to punch these Nazis” (this was right on the heels of Spencer getting clocked for all the world to see) and got the response that someone would “enjoying watching Deo get shot at the convention.” She notified the authorities, the hotel informed Fur Con it would require a security force that would cost more than twenty thousand dollars, and that was pretty much it for the convention. Whether Foxler himself espouses fascist ideology is unknown—Furry Raiders have started making rainbow armbands, among other colors, as a way to show its commitment to diversity—it seems obvious there are some in the #AltFurry community more than happy to wreck other people’s enjoyment of the non-fascist things in life, like being very, very committed to dressing up as cartoonish mammals.

There’s a whole other aspect to the story that involves a member of the Fur Con board being involved with sovereign citizen activities and also a convicted sex offender, which is probably not high on the list of things with which furries want to be associated. Also, other furries discovered Fur Con, which claimed to be run by a nonprofit, had actually had that status revoked back in 2011 for failure to file statements with the IRS. Basically, it’s a whole mess, and a lot of it can be chalked up to a likely small group of guys who start statements with things like, “I’m not a neo-Nazi, but...” This is why we can’t have nice things, or even harmless but slightly unsettling things, depending on your views of the furry community.

Yep...even the Rolling Stone mag has it...

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/does-the-furry-community-have-a-nazi-problem-w476466


The Rocky Mountain Fur Con has been hosting huge annual conventions for a decade – but will infighting mean the end? Furry Raiders

Rocky Mountain Fur Con 2017 – a convention for enthusiasts who wear animal costumes ingrained with human characteristics for roleplaying – has been canceled. On Monday, the RMFC board of directors organizing the 10th annual event, set to be held in Denver next August, posted a statement that a "movement has grown into a community that promotes violence" which resulted in a "sudden and drastic increase in security costs" exceeding a third of the event's operating budget.
Related
'Radically Mainstream': Why the Alt-Right Is Celebrating Trump's Win

"We've been legitimized by this election," says movement leader Richard Spencer

The announcement came after the founder of the Furry Raiders, an outlier group within the anthropomorphic subculture, adopted an armband which featured a black paw on a red background that some thought had a striking resemblance to a part of the Nazi uniform. Convention chairman Zachary Brooks did not directly name the Furry Raiders in his account, but convention staff identified the Furry Raiders as being at the center of the controversy after being labeled a neo-Nazi group throughout the community, which largely exists online.

Lee Miller, the 29-year-old Fort Collins furry who wears the armband as his Foxler Nightfire fursona, has in turn been accused of being a neo-Nazi. He denies any connection between his armband and that of the Third Reich. Online forums have characterized the Furry Raiders as a "neo-nazi cult-like group" recruiting members with "gifts, grooming and manipulation," according to Dogpatch Press, a blog covering the furry community. But Miller does not agree with such descriptions. "We have a strong stance about keeping equal rights and personal creativity within the fandom," says Miller, who adds that he has never been banned from a convention contrary to other furry beliefs.

On January 26th, a furry identifying as a Tasmanian Devil named Deo tweeted, "Can't wait to punch Nazis," which led another furry with a now-deleted Twitter handle of @Oliviameles to comment, "Watching you get shot by someone defending themselves from unprovoked assault will be far more entertaining."

The Denver Police eventually investigated the comments and found the threats credible enough that convention host Marriott Tech Center demanded $22,000 to hire off-duty officers for security, according to Flayrah, an online news magazine for furry fandom. "People overreacted," Brooks told the Denver Post. "As it got more and more heated, people started talking about beating up people wearing the symbol. They said, 'We've got a right to protect ourselves and we are going to bring weapons.'"

The RMFC board puts on one of the top-10 attended conventions in the United States, and expected over 2,000 furries to attend this summer, according to David Gonzalez, director of marketing at RMFC in Colorado. Their parent company, Mid-American Anthropomorphic and Arts Corporation (MAAAC), is now focused on issuing refunds for the cancelled convention. "The board of MAAAC has not voted to dissolve the corporation, but the continuation of RMFC beyond 2017 does not look very likely," says Gonzalez. Turns out the in-fighting has been an ongoing situation for at least the past year and a half. "The casual threats they were tossing at one another were the final straw," says Gonzalez. "It may be the end for RMFC, but the online threats of violence will crop up again for other conventions." To shed light on the recent cancellation, Rolling Stone interviewed furries to find out what's happening in their community.

Rocky Mountain Fur Con was created for all persuasions
In 2007, the MAAAC hosted the first RMFC convention for the growing number of furries seeking acceptance in Colorado. The social events have since attracted furries mostly of Millennial age to mingle, dance, listen to guest speakers and attend literary events, as well as hosting informational panels. "It's just like any fan-base conference," says Gonzalez. Furry comedian 2 Gryphon often makes appearances and artists sell paintings of their part-animal, part-human avatars. Last year, the RMFC welcomed about 1,670 furries, 65 vendors and 35 artists.


The Furry Raiders group was started on the website Second Life, and now has roughly 1,000 members. Furry Raiders

The Furry Raiders say they have no political agenda
The year of the RMFC debut, a small group of furries started the "Furry Raiders project" formed in the online virtual world Second Life, with no goals other than to "help furries purchase items in the game," says Miller, the founder. The group grew to 1,000 members over three years and he backed out because he could not afford to give furries real money to buy hairstyles for their characters or gardens and castles for their in-game properties. But in 2014, Miller resurrected the Furry Raiders after seeing media accounts describing their community not as a creative safe zone but as a world for kinky fetishists.

"Our goal became to continue the furry fandom in the way it was founded, where everyone has the chance to express themselves and have the creativity they desired," says Miller, who joined the community as a 12-year-old loner struggling with the death of his father. But after a while, he realized some furries were not as accepting as he thought. "People were governing the image of what furry fandom should be," says Miller, referring to furries who told him to remove his armband. "We realized we can't pick and choose what people do. There are furries that are into bestiality. Others draw younger characters and it gives them a creative outlet in a safe manner. If they continue to stay in a creative community like this they won't harm people or animals. We can't just say we hate you."

Despite Miller's comments, furries like Crummles Upton believe that the Furry Raiders are "notorious for breaking rules under the guise of free speech." In an interview conducted with Rolling Stone via Twitter, the furry mentions examples of how group members troll furries online and spread hate speech at conventions. "The Raiders have an M.O. of publicly saying stuff along the lines of wanting inclusiveness and just getting along with people, but in person or in DMs they act contrary to that," according to Upton.

Foxer Nightfire's arm band is a furry symbol, he says, not a nod to neo-Nazism
Miller discovered the infamous armband in 2007 as a free item in Second Life. The Furry Raiders then spent over $700 to physically make 100 armbands that varied in color. "The red armband became part of my persona, but people started telling me I had to change and I wouldn't do that," says Miller. Five years ago, furries began calling him a neo-Nazi because they felt there were similarities between his armband and those of the Nazis, as well as a resemblance to armbands worn by the "Furzis" on Second Life, a contentious group of furries interested in German history and World War II. Miller, who describes himself as a high school dropout "knowledgeable in computers but uneducated in history and politics," reached out to actual actual neo-Nazis via online forums. "I told them I was a furry and they said, 'What the fuck is this shit?'" says Miller. "They found out 60 percent of furries are gay males and told me, 'Get the fuck out of here.'"

Last year, Miller wore an armband to the RMFC. "It grew into a big problem," says Miller. After the election last November, a group calling themselves Anti-Fascist Furries organized and tried to get Nazi Furs banned from such conventions, and also encouraged furries to "boycott events that didn’t ban the Furry Raiders from attending," according to Vice.


Last Year's RMFC 2016 might have been the last Rocky Mountain Fur Convention, according to an organizer. Furry Raiders

In January, the RMFC board issued a statement announcing that in light of the controversy, they would ban all clothing and accessories showing "offensive messages or symbols." The RMFC board struggled to weigh the balance between total acceptance and having to get a handle on furry in-fighting. "It's kind of difficult for any kind of convention to police anybody's outside behavior," says Gonzalez. "Ostensibly, we would have a lot of people banned." That same month, Miller tweeted a photo as Foxer Nightfire wearing an armband with the hashtag #altfurry. He believes some furries have abandoned their original message of acceptance. "People have given us a lot of shit for the arm band that I wear," says Miller. "If you want to accept everyone else, I should be welcomed, too."

So, is Miller a neo-Nazi? "I don't know politics," says Miller, who notes that he voted for Foxer Nightlife in last year's presidential election. "I'm not in a position to make any decision on Nazis, Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians. I stick with the furry concept. Some ideas in America need to be protected." Furzis, Nazi Furs and Soviet Furs have asked him about the armband, and he believes they are questioning him because they are "non-political, history buffs, nothing more."

"I do not see my armband as National Socialism," says Miller, who makes a point to say that he has German and Thai lineage and is now dating a man who identifies as African-and Asian-American. "I see the armband as a symbol of furriness. It's not a tool or device to promote Nazism. It's a roleplaying tool. Anything in the furry community is just created out of fantasy and taking it seriously is just asinine. Given my background, Hitler would be rolling in his grave."

A MAAAC board member sent a cease and desist letter to a furry
In January, Deo reached out to the RMFC board via Twitter and sent an email to their security team to report the threats, she tells Rolling Stone through Twitter. There was no response until April 3rd when she received a letter from Kendal Emery aka Kahuki, a board member of MAAAC and RMFC, who personally sent a cease and desist letter to Deo's house. Emery, who stepped down as RMFC chair after a 1993 felony conviction for Criminal Sexual Contact with a Minor was revealed in 2008, wrote that Deo's "false statements" caused "substantial commercial injury damage" and mentioned the possibility of a class-action lawsuit. He ended the letter with a red ink thumbprint, according to Deo. The FBI views such seals and content as representative of the Sovereign Citizens Movement, a lethal subculture whose followers "hold truly bizarre, complex antigovernment beliefs" that are "rooted in racism and anti-Semitism," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. In a recent interview with The Daily Beast, he denied any association with that group, noting that the fingerprint "just means it's me that wrote it."

After receiving the letter, Deo contacted police in her home state, along with a Colorado lawyer. "I do not take lightly to convicted felons mailing me threatening things," says Deo. On April 10th, she went public with the letter to "warn my furry community of these unstable individuals." Later that day, Brooks announced that the RMFC was cancelled. Deo maintains that her tweeting about punching Nazis was a "joke I said to my friend" referring to a meme of Alt-Right leader Richard Spencer.

The RMFC board became aware of Emery's letter after it was made public. "We're not pursuing it," says Gonzalez, speaking as a member of the organizing committee for RMFC. "We deeply regret it was ever sent and contacted the recipient." (Emery told the Daily Beast that he had the full approval of the board to send the letter.) Today, the furry community is heartbroken, angry and confused. "We try to be as inclusive as possible," says Gonzalez. "But furries have become far more politically polarized and there's a greater willingness to call someone out publicly and try to force them to act. That's what happened here. It's fair to say that we're not prepared for that."

Miller, who remains perhaps one of the most polarizing of figures in the furry community, claims that he has been "trolled, slandered, harassed and threatened" over the past year. From his computer, Miller watches the online bickering and he is filled with shame to see the MAAAC and RMFC crumble. "For me, being a furry is a personal outlet to understand the real world," says Miller. "Others find it fun. Others find it spiritual. And others go for sexual purposes. People take on completely different characteristics and sometimes I can't even tell who's in the suit. I'm the same person in and out of the suit."