I have extremely strong opinions about flamboyant men, I won't share them, but I'll say this, I've briefly said this in a dm to someone when we were discussing this issue.
Think of 2 HUGE tragedies that struck the cheerleading world this year. Jeff Fehr and Casey May. Both (from what I know of teh cases) felt that because of their sexuality and the criticisms they received they no longer wanted to live. Both of those young people had cheerleading as a form of expression, a place they could be whoever they wanted. I didn't know either of them, but that can be said of any cheerleader. When you step on that mat, you are whoever you want yourself to walk off that mat being. You are not judged by the circumstances you can't control, and that's something that is rare to find in today's society. With so much sexism, racism, and homophobia that we continue to say is a huge problem, it blows my mind that the USASF of all organizations has the balls to take that away from anyone. As a young gay man, I've found myself acting less like myself because I didn't want to be "too theatrical", I didn't want people to judge me for it, but never once in the few years that I cheered (and I'm now on the fence about going back into it) did I EVER feel like I would be judged for being gay, or for acting gay on the mat. The mat is where you are your real self. No societal images to uphold, no fear of embarrassment because you shimmied really damn hard after landing your pass for the first time in competition, nothing, and yet the USASF dares to try and take that away?
