Are you in the furry closet?

[the lone shadow wolf]

I now have a collar so that's one thing in my furry closet

also cool pick Kobuk 

[ChristopherLion]

I am in and out of it as the need arises but am no where near as out as I would like to be.

[Turgius]

There is a door?

[Wooden Skull]

I wasn't aware there was one.
You should be hiding your power level anyways, furry included.

[ChristopherLion]

There is a door but it is guarded by the scariest creature ever to put claw to the earth: My Wife!

[Nyte Kitsune]

I just removed the door about a year ago now, and peeked out the door for my sister and nieces (whom I lived with at the time) 3 years ago. Once I came fully out I noticed that no-one really cared, My Uncle merely said "Oh, Thats like the guys dressing up for comic conventions or trek conventions." and my grandmother was like, "Whatever, I gotta see this." and considering she's 89, that makes her pretty open minded. None of my other relatives so much as batted an eye at the idea, even one of my other uncles who was a psychiatrist. I've found that a lot of people actually like us, During my first meetup suited, I had random strangers coming up and asking for hugs or to get their photo's taken with me. I'd say many of us paranoid about what people will think, need to just do what I did, shrug, and just be myself, if some people don't like it, family, friends, perfect strangers, then tough, no sense pretending to be something I'm not just to make other people comfortable.

I'm a furry, and PROUD of it! "Yip!"

[Halcali]

I need no closet.

[Fleeyock]

Yes, definitely in the closet.

Always have been. While I prefer to be alone, I am subject to far too many societal pressures, and I can't afford to be taken less seriously than I already am. I've always found it wise to have my most outlandish idiosyncrasies best kept to myself (and I do have quite a few of them). I honestly think it is more fun that way. No one needs to know, and it is not something so integral to my life that I can't stand to keep it inside myself and let everyone know. Besides, I have the internet at my disposal to serve as an outlet for that kind of thing.

[Kubra]

I've come out of the furry closet a bit as of recently. I've worn my tail out in public several times. I'm very proud of who I am and not afraid to show that (within reason). Honestly, let people think what they will. Chances are they're wrong. I don't mind people who ask me genuinely curious questions about the tail or the fandom and I try to answer the best that I can (still new to the fandom myself). I tend to ignore/block out the negativities and rude comments.

[Weirdwolf]

Hmm, this one's a complicated subject for me. I'm still kind of on the fence about whether I'm a closeted furry or not, due to my past wrongdoings I have committed upon the community. I had done some pretty heinous things, things that would probably get me kicked off these forums immediately if I were to describe them. I'm not proud of what I did, in fact I hate myself very much for doing such things. I feel what I did back then was so bad that I believe it would be an insult to the furry community to call myself a furry. This is why I describe myself as an outside advocate for the fandom, as I want to give back so badly what I tried so hard to take away from it. I want to make amends and help contribute to making the world a better place for furries, a place that furries can live in without fear of being persecuted by people like me anymore. Sometimes I worry that other outsiders to the community might just write me off as being closeted, or that some furries might reject my attempts to help because of my troubled past with them. I wish to only do good, but my worries and regrets keep putting me down. I feel so confused and saddened. Why did I ever think it would be good to harm such innocent people based on what they choose to be? Why did I ever want to become such a monster? I wish I could just erase what I've done from history and move on, but I know I can't, so that's why I'm here looking to do whatever I can to right my wrongs so that I can feel I may finally be forgiven for my past sins.   

[Kain (Asher) Eralf]

There is a door?

This^
Such truth. Very ouch.

My family, to my knowledge, is still completely unawares, aside from a brother whom I recently told. He doesn't mind, and has been asking me some questions about the fandom and Furtopia.
Aside from that, once in a while, during drama practice, I'll pull out my pencil and paper and draw. I sit off to the side, but I don't put cover the art when going up on stage... so I'm not hiding it, but I'm not throwing it out there either. Oh, and I have this for my computer background:

Spoiler: show

Outside of that, though, I'm very much in the closet, and I hide my drawings from my Dad even if he demands to see them. I'm notorious for concealing my art (which is pretty much all anthro/furry) whether at home or outside. I guess I'm too afraid that they wouldn't take it well, wouldn't understand, and/or would try to stop it. Though I guess that's a given, what with being in the closet and all.
Put me online, though, and I'm a lot more open.

[Doc]

Outside of that, though, I'm very much in the closet, and I hide my drawings from my Dad even if he demands to see them. I'm notorious for concealing my art (which is pretty much all anthro/furry) whether at home or outside. I guess I'm too afraid that they wouldn't take it well, wouldn't understand, and/or would try to stop it. Though I guess that's a given, what with being in the closet and all.
Put me online, though, and I'm a lot more open.

Same here. I really like your background and your Avatar. The background makes me feel happy inside. Not like happy, in a good mood, but happy like real genuine plain happiness. It's been a while. Too long.
I actually told one of my friends in class once when I showed her a picture of a guy in a fursuit holding a revolver to the camera. She asked me if I knew what he was and I said that I am what he is. A furry. The only other person who knows is my mom. I am really in the closet though and have been searching for the key to the door. Fumbling around in the darkness. I found a hammer in there and broke a hole through the door. This is when I showed off the only piece of furry art I've had time to make (check my Avatar). The hole was quickly patched, though.
I give hints that I am atheist and a furry, but I won't say those things outright unless you ask me directly and specifically. So far, nobody's found my trail of bread crumbs leading to this wretched closet of secrecy. The internet is when the closet opens itself, and I can freely express myself. It feels good. Then, when I click the red X button, the closet pulls me back inside and locks up tight. I hate this closet.

When I first released my image onto Facebook and Instagram (I won't be sharing those accounts), I was expecting a huge amount of ridicule and shaming, but what I got was stuff like how my dad's skill passed on to me, they really liked it, etc. It is the most liked of my Facebook posts. It made me feel good and tingly inside. A kind of happy I only get when listening to really good music that connects to me on every level, browsing furry art on Google, etc.

One of those hints I gave was my wallpaper being the Avatar I have drawn and a piece of art from Google that I loved to bits. The siblings asked about it and I didn't tell much. Stuff like it doesn't matter. They stopped asking soon enough.

Edit: Just noticed that this is my 100th post! Hooray 3 stars!
Edit 2: You can no longer check avatar to see the only piece of art I've created that was decent because an image that Taivana made for me is now my avatar.

[Literate Lycan]

Yeah, I suppose I am.

My kids (teenagers) do not know. The older one suspects--he's asked me if I am, to which I gave a rather evasive answer. I went to the local furbowl recently, and I said I was going out with some fandom friends. It's a plausible explanation, since I've been involved in fantasy & science fiction fandom to some extent for a long time. I also have a non-furry Twitter microblog which is primarily F&SF. Going to FurCon was going to a F&SF convention for the day. Again, plausible, because before I was married I attended two or three West Coast F&SF cons a year. And I've taken my younger teen to a large local anime/pop culture con. Now I'm a single (widowed) parent and I've told the kids that Dad's becoming more active in fandom once again because he needs to have outside interests...just not that it's furry fandom.

You can call me chicken if you'd like. Afraid to touch the closet door.

I know I will need to have *the talk* with them eventually. I think they'd kind of accept  it. Either that or think Dad's going through some strange midlife thing. The problem is that neither of them is really capable of keeping the knowledge confidential. I don't want word spreading among one teen's hardcore gaming buddies or the younger teen's schoolmates that I'm a furry.

But in the company of other furries at a furbowl or some other gathering--I have no desire to conceal that I'm a fan. Once I have my fursuit I'll be wearing it to the monthly furbowls and having a great time with my fellow furs.

Maybe the closet door is only closed when family and friends approach.

[Kain (Asher) Eralf]

Maybe the closet door is only closed when family and friends approach.

That's something we have to thank the internet for; a large, wide-open door to anonymity.
It's like wearing a mask, or a fursuit. When you wear it, you do things that you might not normally do, especially things that pertain to the mask. If you try running around high-fiving or hugging kids... people may want to call the coppers or mace you. Yet, if you're in a fursuit, it's completely different.
Such is the internet. It helps take away much of the social awkwardness/status quo, allowing the closet door to open.

As a last thought, I'll throw in that the internet is the key to the growth of the fandom. Without it, we'd be alone in a crowd, as it were. It's how I found out about the fandom and realized [cheese warning] that I wasn't alone.
We may be stuck in the closet, but the closet is a lot bigger than we think.

[Firelight]

I'm in the babyfur closet.

[Bronx]

I added a small section to my profile on my Customsforge page (a website for Rocksmith songs) that basically said I was a furry. Nobody I know will be looking at it; not a big deal, I know, but hey, small steps.

[Kaslo]

One foot is outside the closet, the other is locked in a box inside it.

My immediate family knows about the fandom (to an extent). I don't discuss it much with my parents, primarily because they think its a weird hobby and generally don't care.
I can talk with my sister about the hobby all day long with no problems.


However none of my friends know, and its unlikely I will ever go right out and say "This is my other hobby".
Once I get a fursuit I might be more open about it with my closer friends, but everyone else will probably be kept in the dark. I haven't decided yet. 

[Literate Lycan]

I want to revise my post #462 from March.

The closet door has cracked open a little. My kids know I'm furry. They're mostly OK with it, though it was an adjustment for them. Both have seen the partial fursuit I own. I've even taken my 14-year-old daughter to a local furbowl, where she watched me in suit for a couple hours. She had a good time and met several others in the local fur group. I think there may be the beginnings of an interest in furry, but how far she wants to pursue that interest is a decision I'll leave to her.

Both kids are sworn to secrecy about my being furry, and they haven't betrayed my confidence. For that I'm grateful. I want to control who knows about it, and so far I haven't disclosed anything to anyone else. I am considering informing my sibling and have devised a way to tell him. I'll show him the group photo from BLFC 2016 and tell him that out of the 1150 fursuiters in the picture I'm one of them. However, he lives in another state and I'll wait until he comes for a visit so that I can tell him in person.

[Firelight]

Nope just the sfw puppy play one.

[Robert_Silvermyst]

All of my friends know I'm a furry.  My mother only recently learned I was furry due to her joining facebook. So far, she likes the commission pics I had posted, so I haven't had anything negative from her.  I do wear my partial in public at the furmeet here in CT, so I am exposed to the public, albeit a public who do not know me personally.

[Namae]

Well not really since my parents know. I probably won't tell a lot of others though. I have no need to tell anyone else right now.

[Light Blackwood]

Hmm no idea, but also I don't need to tell someone else, specially if I already know those are't intereted. I've told to a couple though

[TheFoxAddict]

I started out a couple of years ago reading furry comics. I read it for a while then went on to check out Furry art as well. Later on I got inspired by many Furry artists on DA to try drawing my own characters. In the beginning I was only interested in trying to create OCs. So up until then I didn't feel the need to tell anyone about my interests.

During my time from I discovered Furry comics and through the period where I tried to create some OCs, I didn't identify as a Furry yet. So there was nothing for me to come out about.

It's only been a couple of months now since I found my inner fox and started identifying as a Furry. I think I remember telling my family and friends on FaceBook pretty shortly after I became a Furry. I just told them straight out and explained to them what they needed to know. My family and relatives are very loving and openminded people. They seem to have no judgemental sides whatsoever! So I didn't have to worry about telling them. Noone have had anything negative to say or were bothered by it. So for me comming out of the Furry closet vere pretty easy 

[Michen_S]

I was never really in the closet in the first place. I even explained it to my parents when I told them I wanted to go to a furry convention (which also would be the first time going away for a while without any family around). They kept forgetting, so I just stopped mentioning the fandom after the third time explaining. The only other problem I had was that a member of the church I attend was worried I would want to physically become partly animal (without wearing a fursuit).

[Subzerus]

I was never really in the closet in the first place. I even explained it to my parents when I told them I wanted to go to a furry convention (which also would be the first time going away for a while without any family around). They kept forgetting, so I just stopped mentioning the fandom after the third time explaining. The only other problem I had was that a member of the church I attend was worried I would want to physically become partly animal (without wearing a fursuit).

So he worried that you would spontanously mutate and become part human part animal? Uhm uh... Ok...