I am sorry if I go too far with this, but you US inhabitants really,
really should stop listening to creepy looneys who utter twisted, distorted, or wrong bible quotes at everything beyond their tiny horizon, and dub themselves "morally advanced". if you manage this, creationalists and other funny people suddenly have no more power over your lifes.
to put it bluntly, as long as you watch closely whom to confess anything to you should be fine. if your parents might freak out at the mentioning of different sexual orientations, maybe they wouldn't accept 'furry' either (mine actually do, and I have showed them even my adult themed drawings, and they are cool about it). if they go ballistic at everything out-of-the-norm, keep everything to yourself, and look for an appartment of your own. if they accept it (not necessarily like it, of course, but rather shrug and say, "well, it doesn't hurt me, does it?"), start in small pieces if you feel the need to spill what you have found.
btw, if you are not sure about it, better do not stack adult artwork on your computer. one day someone will stumble upon it.
as others said, grow a spine, and ask yourself how much flak you are willing to take, and if it wouldn't be easier to hide it from your close vicinity. living after other people's opinion about how life should work only leads into dead ends. or even full-blown world wars. believe you me, we germans tried it twice, and failed.
not everything in this fandom consists of weird fetishes, mine are mostly fetish clothing for example. there are more... diverse things to be found. thing is, you don't have to look at it. and you equally don't have to feel ashamed because soemone dubbing himself furry, too, is into something disgusting. you are not him, and vice versa. every fandom has as many subgenres as members, since every human is an individual (at least most of them). you are not responsible for your neighbours' kinks.
and don't be afraid of these 99%. this number is exaggerated. Vanity Fair and CSI highly failed to give furries a bad name, as most spectators laughed at these extremists, and went on with their lifes. VF wasn't available in german yuntil early last year, and said CSI episode was aired here four or five times since the first run, and everything that happened was a couple closet furries finding out they are not alone, and searching the internet now that they had a term to type in. a bad name? hell, most of germany doesn't even know what furry means. I had to explain it to some co-workers, and I am lucky to say, they were indifferent about it. as one put it, "I can't see anything wrong with it." the rest of media footage? see my first post.
don't fret it, don't worry, and don't feel ashamed. it doesn't matter if you are 'here' for the lulz, the art, the stories, the animals, the pron, or to sell those guys porn... if you 'are furry enough' to invent yourself a fuzzy/scaly/whatever alter ego, or just here for the art.
see, I am very much into 60's/70's Fords, but I don't care for lifestyle or clothes from that decades. and I think resopale desk tops are abominations.
