I miss ye olden days when "furries" didn't actually exist, technically. They used to just be a bunch of fans of anthropomorphic characters in stories, movies and cartoons (Aesop, Secret of Nimh, Disney, etc, and the occasional rule 34 of all of the above, the exception as opposed to the rule). Then someone decided the whole damned thing had to be a fetish, and it all was downhill from there.

But of course, "anthropomorphic" is too long a word for 80% of Americans to pronounce let alone spell, so it devolved into "furry", so that became the official red letter of shame for everyone even remotely into anthros.

And yes, I'm quoting from actual experience, but hey, just go ahead and go with your mainstreamed in "Furries LOL" thing, because the media has never been deceptive before, right?

Quickie edit here: Also, we didn't dress in costumes or have "yiffpiles" or whatever they call them either, we just hung out and looked at cartoons and comics for the most part. Maybe some hooked up and did the nasty, we didn't know and they didn't advertise it, and that was a good thing.