They are in fact hot, but there's ways to be comfortable in a fursuit, such as wearing underarmour/lycra/spandex. Sweat wicking stuff is a life saver in a fursuit.
Motorcycle cooling gear might be what they need. I road with full gear and the ice vests were lifesavers. They usually lasted me a few hours with full gear.
They definitely are. Cons always have a lot of signage up about watching for symptoms of heat stroke, and decent cons will have a “headless lounge” set up as semi-private (fursuiters and assistants only) space to take off parts of your suit and cool down. Usually lots of fans going and freely available water.
Hot, yes. Usually quite comfortable though. Though both depend on the design. And there are cooling options out there; small airflow systems for the heads, and cooling vests that yhe other commentor posted a link to.
Furry is the interest in anthropomorphic animal art. The fandom is just like any other fandom with a wide variety of people with different levels of interest in it. There are many neurodivergent people who use fursuits as a way to make social interaction easier and there are those who just enjoy entertaining people or just enjoy being in suit and being silly. I won't deny that there is some people who take things too far or who consent to doing things in private, but it's just like any fandom. People doing NSFW things in costume is in every fandom. As long as they keep it consensual and in private, what does it matter?
There are also many people who very much prefer SFW only for everything they do or people who are middle ground. Hell, there's actually quite a few average people who just want to be part of a community who enjoy the art and the atmosphere. It is a hugely varied fandom with a lot of misconceptions.
AFAIK Pittsburgh is desperate to keep the con here because it brings in millions of dollars to local businesses. And the furry parade is a big event for the city - families come from all around to watch it.
I think it's mostly because it brings in money and for whatever reason, the community seems to be just fine with it, even if they don't participate or understand it, so from the furry side, they've found a city happy to have them, and from the city side, they like the economic boost, so if everyone's happy, why change?
Replace the word "furry" with "cosplaying". Is there Ironman-Spiderman porn? Yes. Is cosplaying just about this? No.
Being a furry isn't always about sexual stuff. It can just be about being cute and silly. For example, you'll see kids wearing furry ears, tails n stuff like that. U'll see kids talking about their "fursona" (a description of what their furry alter ego would look like). Being a furry is primarily about art and just doing fun stuff.
Now, about furry porn- an artist is probably going to draw dicks n boobs some time in their life. Humans are generally very sexual creatures. They're going to introduce sexual stuff in practically anything that they do. That's furry porn. It's not because being a furry is about porn- it's because being a human is about porn.