Texas wants to say goodbye to the fur.
The bill, supported by Gov. Greg Abbott, introduced in the Texas House of Representatives, prohibits “nonhuman behavior” at schools, including other practices common among furyas.
The forbidden and illegal expression of role-playing in education, also known as the Furries Act, prohibits barking, hissing, covering, fur, fur or tail in state public schools.
The proposal also specifies that students cannot use trash cans or licking as a means of self-care on school grounds.
Schools across the country were first flagged at a 2022 odd meeting in Michigan school districts, and have repeatedly uncovered claims of trash bin installations for student use.
Only school mascots and dress-up performances, including Halloween and certain Themes Spirit Week days, are exempt from the ban.
The bill will serve as a comprehensive ban that applies to all students, but Senator Stan Gerdes, the bill's patron, specifically called fur and said he wanted to avoid schools.
“There's no distraction. There's no theater. Just education,” Geldes wrote. Social Media.
The ban will not expand to private schools, but Abbott referenced it in a meeting with Austin's pastor, referring to it as a motivating factor to allow private school selection vouchers.
“If you have kids in public schools, there's one expectation: your kids are learning the fundamentals of education: reading, mathematics and science,” Abbott said, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
“If they are distracted by fur, those parents have the right to move their children to their chosen school,” the governor continued.
Abbott has fought for school choice vouchers for years.
The program, if implemented, gives parents the ability to divert taxes to their chosen schools, rather than from their respective localities, including private and religious institutions that normally do not receive public funds.
Abbott acknowledges that introducing vouchers will reduce funding for public schools.
Geldes expects a “full furry vengeance” to descend to the state capitol during hearing of an unsettled bill.
