A proposed Texas law that attempts to ban furries in public schools could effectively ban RPGs that include non-human characters.  The law, the Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education Act (yes, that’s the F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act), would ban students from presenting as non-human, or creating clubs related to such behavior, according to Fox 4 in Dallas-Fort Worth. 

Students who violate the law could be disciplined up to expulsion, and the law also allows for placement in a juvenile justice alternative education program.  Schools that allow such behavior could be fined. 

Attorneys quoted by  Rascal argue that the wording of the bill is so broad that it could ban D&D clubs or other TTRPG activities in schools.  Perhaps of even more concern, just the inclusion of the word “roleplaying” in the law could cause a chilling effect in schools that leads them to ban all RPG activities to be safe. 

It’s unclear the prospects for passage of the bill, which was apparently inspired by a 2022 urban myth that schools were accommodating students who identified as furries by providing litter boxes they could use instead of bathrooms, as reported by NBC News at the time.  Litter boxes for that purpose are specifically banned by the proposed law.