Non-furries keep telling me I can’t be a furry

I’m trying to raise awareness by telling people, my boyfriend and just friends that I’m a Furry so I usually do whenever Furry related things come up because people consider me to be a normal person otherwise.

They all try to tell me that I can’t be a Furry since I say it’s a hobby not a kink like I just like the art, people or myself in animal ears, paws and tails not necessarily even sexually.

They all try to tell me that I can’t be a Furry since I say it’s a hobby not a kink like I just like the art, people or myself in animal ears, paws and tails not necessarily even sexually.

I also enjoy roleplaying as a fursona and with other people, I’m not into sexual things with Fur Suits but do like sexual anthro-art but that’s not Furry according to literally every non-Fur I tell.

The worst is when someone assumes I must be a zoophile or something disgusting if they find out. But I hate people thinking that me identifying as a Furry is invalid, telling me I’m not when they aren’t even Furry themselves. Just makes me angry we aren’t believed or accepted for who we are.

My boyfriend told me I’m not a real furry and then these friends told me I was a soft furry and called jokingly me a fur-f[\#g](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%23g) like wow okay….. even as a joke slurs are not cool against oppressed minorities.