Flag Shirts Get Dance Team Booted From Competition

(Dreamstime)

Members of a country line dance team set to perform at the Emerald City Hoedown in Seattle over the weekend were told they weren’t welcome, with organizers saying their American flag-themed shirts were making some attendees feel “triggered and unsafe.”

It was right before the Borderline Dance team was to take the stage that the event’s organizer, Rain County Dance Association, effectively asked the military-supporting dance group to leave. The association describes itself is an LGBTQ+ nonprofit social dance organization driven by its members.

Seattle radio host Jason Rantz first reported the story.

“It was just this one incident that was unfortunate,” Borderline Dance co-founder Lindsay Stamp told Newsmax.

Stamp said one of Rain County Dance Association’s board members spoke on behalf of organizers, explaining it was a small number of convention-goers who had expressed being upset over the uniforms. Those uniforms consisted of shirts with stars on one side and stripes on the other and weren’t official prints of the American flag.

Since the incident, Borderline Dance explained to its approximately 2,000 followers on its Facebook page what happened and that it had been inundated with queries and support.

“They had several claims for this reasoning. Mostly associated with the situation in Palestine and Trans community in America. At first we were told we would just be booed, yelled at and likely many of them would walk out. This did not deter us. But then we were given an ultimatum. Remove the flag tops and perform in either street clothes (which most didn’t bring as they traveled there in their uniforms) or they would supply us with ECH shirts from years past … or, don’t perform at all, which effectively was asking us to leave,” the post read.

West Coast Country Heat, another team also scheduled to dance at the convention, also did not perform because dancers were donning the country’s colors of red, white, and blue.

Newsmax reached out to Rain County Dance Association for comment. While the group’s Facebook page has been paused, the Emerald City Hoedown FB page posted about the incident.

“Hi y’all! After the close of another amazing Hoedown weekend, we know there are some questions about the Saturday night performance line-up. We appreciate y’all giving us the time to clear up misunderstandings and address the situation with people directly involved. We will be posting a follow-up statement later this week once we are able to have those conversations.”

Meanwhile, many expressed support to Borderline Dance members.

Said one follower, “God bless you all and God Bless America!”

Stamp described her fellow dance members as a “diverse team of 22 women in relation to religion, family structure, and political stance.”

“Dance unites us. That is the common denominator. These women are my family,” Stamp said. “It’s a shame a small percentage is allowed to overshadow the spirit of an event, which is to bring us together to share our love of country-western dance.”