GOP Senator Ahead of Midterms: Furry Airline Pilots Are ‘Terrifying’

With the midterms just weeks away, Tommy Tuberville set his sights on the furry community.

During a nearly 20-minute speech filled with misinformation about transgender people and a fear-mongering call to bring back mental institutions as “a normal part of our society,” Tuberville claimed that furries “[tout] the fact that… many airline pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers are part of the furry community.” He did not provide any evidence as to where this information came from.

He exclaimed, “Lord help us! It’s terrifying when you think about this. When you walk onto a commercial flight, it’s possible that the pilot flying your plane could have a deranged fetish of dressing up like an animal. You can’t make this up.”

The Alabama senator and former college football coach is currently running for state governor in the Nov. 3 general elections. He is not the first Republican to become hyper-focused on furries as part of a larger anti-transgender campaign to push polices targeting LGBTQ rights.

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Many in the GOP have perpetuated misconceptions about furries, a widely misunderstood and stigmatized fandom, as a vehicle to vilify the LGBTQ community. In 2022, the bizarre claim that students had begun requesting litter boxes in the classroom became a favored talking point among right-wing politicians and was soon debunked.

Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate for governor, responded to Tuberville’s Senate floor speech. “My only comment is that was the strangest speech on the floor of the United States Senate that I have ever heard,” said Jones.