Furries to march for millions at San Francisco Pride 2014

by Patch O'Furr

San Francisco has a great tradition of LGBT culture. If you dig subculture, there’s a lesser known feature here: the world’s most dense population of Furries. On June 29, 2014, we’re joining forces for a world class parade. This may be the height of the season for furry outings that draw a lot of us to fairs and festivals. On Facebook’s Bay Area Furs, Chris posts:

I have reserved a place… THERE WILL BE A FURRY FLOAT. Yaaaaayy!

SF Pride 2013 drew 1.5 million attendees, and who knows how much media. Many furries went, but only informally for this meetup that I wrote about. It grew in size and interest from our meet at SF Pride 2012. There’s much excitement to keep the energy going, this time with a formal parade contingent. We haven’t done one in years, but in fact, furries have been involved since as far back as 2002:

Hey! Are we trying to represent all furries that way!? No. Please don’t fear. We’re representing ourselves, as expressive people with overlapping interests. “Overlapping interests” could also include:

This topic comes up often. Sometimes it’s with curiosity, and sometimes with friction. It happened today on Reddit. “Why do most furry males tend to identify as transgender, bisexual, or gay?” I answered:

“Furries are made of people, so it’s OK to talk about who’s here and why. Studies give a clue that furries are as likely to be gay, or bi, as straight. Maybe 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. So you can’t assume anything about anybody. I think that’s awesome. Not being able to assume, is as close to an ideal world as you can get.”

The parade guidelines say:

Parade contingents generally organize their contingent’s look around some central theme: celebrating self, celebrating diversity, standing against LGBT discrimination, speaking out for one’s ideals, honoring LGBT history, recognizing friends and allies, or standing for a loved one lost.

“Friends and allies” sounds like all the reason we need. Oh look… something else caught my eye…

Animal Units: Those planning to have animals within their contingent must make prior arrangements with the SFSPCA and the SF Department of Public Works. In accordance with city ordinances you are responsible for cleaning up after your animals.

Let’s mind our manners, and leave no special problems behind. Then they’ll give us a fabulous welcome back next year.

With 6 weeks to go, the Meetup.com event page has 28 RSVP’s. I reserved a double hotel room so many can change and a few can crash. Booking.com has a few rooms left at the Holiday Inn Civic Center (50 Eighth Street, SF). They’ll go fast. Anyone who wants to join should reserve now!

For fun, try this festival short, Flamingo Pride, by Berlin’s Talking Animals animation studio. Here’s a Flayrah story, the full film, and a trailer.

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