Texas wants to say farewell to the furries.
A bill introduced in the Texas House of Representatives backed by Gov. Greg Abbott would ban “non-human behavior” in schools, including barking and other practices common among furries.
The Forbidden Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education, also known as the FURRIES Act, would prohibit students from barking, hissing, meowing, wearing leashes, fur or tails at public schools in the state.
The proposal also specifies that students cannot use litter boxes or licking as means of self-care on school grounds.
Schools across the country have repeatedly debunked claims of litter box installations for student use since it was first flagged during a bizarre meeting in a Michigan school district in 2022.
Only school mascots and dress-up performances including Halloween and certain themed spirit week days are exempted from the ban.
While the bill works as a blanket ban applied to all students, Republican state Rep. Stan Gerdes, the patron of the bill, specifically called out furries and said he wants to keep them out of schools.
“No distractions. No theatrics. Just education,” Gerdes wrote on social media.
While the ban doesn’t extend to private schools, Abbott referenced it during a meeting with pastors in Austin as a motivating factor to allow private school choice vouchers.
“If you have a child in a public school, you have one expectation: your children’s going to be learning the fundamentals of education — reading and writing and math and science,” Abbott said, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
“If they’re being distracted by furries, those parents have a right to move their child to a school of their choice,” the governor continued.
Abbott has been fighting for school choice vouchers for years.
The program, if ever implemented, would grant parents the ability to divert their tax dollars toward the school of their choice rather than the ones in their respective area — including private and religious institutions that would not typically receive public funds.
Abbott has admitted that introducing the vouchers would result in less funding for public schools.
Gerdes anticipates that the “full furry vengeance” will descend onto the state Capitol during hearings for the bill, which have not been set.
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