NSFW communities attract creeps. It's unfortunate, and since some communities tolerate creeps, there's going to be some level of justification to the SFW-only crowd looking down on NSFW communities. I'm glad e621 discourages creepiness these days. But to claims that the NSFW side gives the fandom a bad name, I'm guessing popular shows like CSI do more harm, by portraying the NSFW community as both "squicky" and as representative of the fandom as a whole. For much of the 20th century, it was acceptable to make jokes out of homosexuality and portray LGBTQ folks as perverts. In the 21st century, so far, furries are the new disfavored minority.

Furry art can and does blend into bestiality. I don't think there's a real refutation to be made, except to say that it's a spectrum, and while humans can't breed with other species, it hasn't stopped a number of them from trying throughout history. Further, humanity has a long and storied history with anthropomorphic animals or with shape-shifting into animals, and nearly every culture has myths and legends involving human/anthromorph or straight-up human/animal partnerships. Even western societies have tales such as when Zeus seduced a mortal woman by morphing himself into a swan.

Is the fandom a fetish? I mean, it can be. Fetishes are... fetishes. Is it a fetish for the community in general? Ask a sociologist, man, I only have anecdotes, and I think the healthier attitude is to not care either way.

And finally, screw the haters. Furry fans shouldn't face discrimination anymore than anyone else, particularly in light of humanity's long association with therianthropy.