Reposted by Ethel Thurston (She/Her They/Them) 🔞
Did the Maryland Renaissance Festival actually ban furries for being ‘ahistorical’ to the renaissance or is there something more sinister driving the decision to exclude this predominantly queer group from what has been a safe space for decades?
#Furry #FurryYouTube #FurryHistory #QueerHistory
youtu.be
Furries Banned From the Maryland Renaissance Festival
YouTube video by Ethel Thurston
![My Patreon, in 2026: Videos and Voice Work [source: https://www.patreon.com/vanderwaardart/posts/my-patreon-in-161355421]
As of June 2026, my book series is predominantly written. I've decided, since then, to lean into videos and voice work.
I'm doing so to continue supporting myself and my friends, whose drawings of I'll continue making elsewhere (focusing on trans, sex worker and other minority rights). Again, I'm still doing illustrations—you can even commission me on here, if you really want to—but shall predominantly feature my artwork elsewhere. It's simply easier me to do, at this stage, and devote my art to those I help (sex workers) on a case-by-case basis accordingly—meaning in places where I actually have more control (my old blog and website).
Here on Patreon, I'll be focusing on regular daily/weekly videos that feature my voice, first and foremost; i.e., that I sample on YouTube, but release fully on here; e.g., video essays, book readings, react videos, and more. By supporting me on here, you'll gain access to uncensored and raw, full-size videos that, on YouTube, only appear in smaller sample sizes (~5-10 mins, usually). Furthermore, this is the only place you'll be able to access them; these videos and voice works don't appear anywhere else, including on my blog or website.
If helping trans workers in times of crisis means anything to you, consider supporting my work. Community support is something I rely on—both to continue making work, but also archive the past work of me and my friends: to help preserve and disseminate it, therefore us and who we are, as fascism rises world-wide. Even $1/month makes all the difference.
"We live in Gothic times."
—Persephone](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:d2545ppta4lpznhyjvs4tl6p/bafkreicffqa3rg4oe6rqk7erwpdffucsezecidlrllxpdffxp7btl4jnre)
![The original cover design for Persephone van der Waard's 2023 Sex Positivity book series, next to her husband Bay Ryan* (dressed in fair clothes with dinosaurs/a gentle plaid pattern and wearing glasses, left): a redhead with horns and a black beret, panties and fishnets, but also a rainbow ponytail moons the camera while surrounded by black and red. The page is covered with yellow and orange font.
*https://bsky.app/profile/barkingonmain.bsky.social
The font reads: Sex Positivity versus Sex Coercion, or Gothic Communism: Liberating Sex Work under Capitalism through Iconoclastic Art
written and illustrated by Persephone van der Waard (with her original artwork [& art for this book] make in collaboration with fellow sex workers and artists)
edited and co-written by Bay Ryan
over 3,400 illustrations & exhibits!
contains academic/erotic & triggering materials! / for purposes of critiquing capital/organized religion; for promoting non-coercive sex education, and for providing parody/transformation of canonical works](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:d2545ppta4lpznhyjvs4tl6p/bafkreidl6ay3p2hickm4dlpgd6mixq3cqi7nt56slffjjas7d5szpubyna)
