Discovering the furry fandom was a pivotal part of my development as a teenager, and extends even now into my early adult life. It is crucial growing up, to feel part of a community, to feel welcome, and to find like-minded individuals.

During a time where the social hierarchy seems to matter more than anything else, early teenhood is a time where everybody strives to belong at any cost. My refusal to step on others to work my way up the social ladder, alongside being one of the only 'out' gay kids at school, lead to me being well known in all of the wrong ways. However, as they say: "everybody belongs somewhere."

While everyone was out partying and being teenagers, I took to the internet to find solace in fantasy roleplay websites, saturated with creative and open minded people. Like myself, I found that a lot of them felt distanced from the high school social norms. I met grown-ups trapped in young bodies.

The reason all of these individuals collected here online? A mutual love and appreciation for fantasy characters, specifically animal-like, or anthropomorphic.

Behind the convenient anonymity of the internet, gender, race and sexuality meant nothing. We had our own personas that we created, idolized, and identified with. Our "fursonas" were how we saw each other, and for some, like myself, it was who we wished we could be and a medium through which to better ourselves.

Lasting friendships were made almost instantly on these old school furry websites. Characters were introduced, lives were shared, and a lot of late nights were spent exchanging hard life stories. We didn't have it all that bad, we just didn't adhere to what most considered normal, and for once that felt good. After a few years of this I knew that I was onto something big. I desperately wanted others to feel like they belonged, so I started our local meetups.

They were small at first, but that didn't matter—quality over quantity. I found that the people who came to the meetups were just as open minded and inviting in person as they were online. It wasn't just the anonymity of the internet, people out there were like this and we just needed somewhere to call home.

Having this weekly escape was all that I needed to feel like life was good again. I didn't need people's acknowledgement in the halls, or lunch with the cool kids. I had found the cool kids, and once I got my first cellphone, they were conveniently tucked away in my pocket.