There's a lot of anti-furry sentiment here comparing it to beastiality and zoophilia which is nothing new, but it's too early in the morning for this.

To all those arguing this: You do not understand what being a furry is.

The furry community is firmly against fucking real animals as they obviously cannot consent. Any sex that happens in the community is among consenting adults. It isn't a "stepping stone" to fucking animals either. The community has worked hard to expel zoophiles (people actually fucking animals) and Nazis (different tangent but also interesting).

The sensory experience of fur (or scales or feathers) is nice, and wondering what having a tail or multiple appendages would be like is fun, but some people have a problem with it when adults want to enjoy that with other adults.

This video is the best explanation I've encountered on the topic and has way more information than what I can put in a comment. NSFW and there's a lot of sex jokes strung throughout.

https://youtu.be/ws9g3igw51s?si=pcILDYodPTi-0ZuU

TL; DW: There is a common experience of being dehumanized which the LGBT+ community experiences as well as those who are autistic which is one of many reasons both groups are drawn to the community. Animal comparisons are a good way of contextualizing how you would like to be interacted with. Furry is nothing new, and we have plenty of depictions of gods seducing people as animals because of the juxtaposition of power dynamics, divinity, humanity, masc, and fem.