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GOP State Rep Stands by Furries Claim
that He Fails to Back Up with Evidence
Capitol Inside
May 3, 2025
A Texas House Republican doubled-down on a crackdown on kids who dress and act like animals when he insisted on Friday that the threat of a furry fandom infestation in the public schools is very real even though he has no evidence to support the widely-debunked conspiracy theory on which a bill he's pushing is based.
The Public Education Committee declined to take a vote on the so-called F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act that State Rep. Stan Gerdes of Smithville pitched to the panel on Thursday at a hearing that may have been the proposal's last hurrah if the quality of his presentation is a significant indication.
Gerdes admitted that he had no proof that the problem he's trying to eradicate even exists. The second-term representative set himself up for monumental embarrassment when he couldn't come up with a single example of the behavior he's seeking to ban at the hearing on the Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Educational Spaces Act.
As Gerdes stumbled badly amid a grilling from Democratic State Rep. James Talarico of Austin, some longtime Capitol observers were calling House Bill 54 the silliest piece of legislation that lawmakers here have debated under GOP rule since Democrat Al Edwards hatched the sexy cheerleading prevention measure 20 years ago. The bill that took aim at sexually suggestive pom-pom pushers at high school events cleared the House before dying from neglect in a Senate committee during the GOP's second regular session as the majority party.
The Gerdes furry elimination plan may not get anywhere near that far in the process in light of the public school panel's decision to leave it pending despite rapidly-diminishing time in a session where legislation that originated in the House will be dead a week from Monday in the absence of a committee vote.
HB 54 suffered another major setback this week when the Smithville school district issued a statement that rejected the hometown lawmaker's claims about furries there. The district said that Gerdes asked Superintendent Cheryl Burns to "walk the campus" at every school in its jurisdiction in a search for litter boxes that students are using to relieve themselves. Burns complied with the request "as a courtesy and told Gerdes there were none.
"At this time, the District has no concerns related to students behaving as anything but typical children," the district said.
The wild goose chase that the sophomore representative initiated in the southeast Texas city where he's a resident fit like a glove into Talarico's assertion that Gerdes was wasting the Legislature's valuable time with nonsense.
But Gerdes may feel like he has some cover with 55 GOP colleagues signed on to HB 54 as co-authors and Governor Greg Abbott treating the furry conspiracy as though it's an alarming concern that's culminated in public schools being under siege by students in animal costumes. Gerdes contended that Republican Speaker Dustin Burrows was supporting the furry bill.
Gerdes ignored taunts and mockery on social media when stood by the conspiracy he's seeking to codify but lacks the evidence to substantiate.
Gerdes included an excerpt from an unidentified video that purports to show several children playing like animals in a yard at a location that isn't specified.
"Thank you to all of the courageous students, parents, teachers and administrators that have come forward to share what we all know to be true," Gerdes said. "Fetishes or distracting non-human role-playing behavior have no place in our Texas schools. The doubters and deniers among the radical left are doing everything they can to minimize the problem, but this behavior can no longer be tolerated. The F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act gives our great teachers the tools to ensure our classrooms are places of learning, not distractions. Proud to have the support of Governor
@GregAbbott_TX and Speaker
@Burrows4TX in
in getting this common sense legislation passed."
The potential stalling in committee suggests that claims of having Burrows as a furry fight ally may be substantially overblown.
more to come ...
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