A regional women’s country line dance team members were reportedly kicked out of a Seattle dance convention after organizers claimed their American flag-themed shirts made some attendees feel “triggered and unsafe.”
The Borderline Dance team was set to perform over the weekend at the Emerald City Hoedown in Seattle. Still, they were essentially told they weren’t welcome by organizer Rain Country Dance Association, an LGBTQ+ dance community, over their matching American flag-themed shirts, Jason Rantz reported for 770 KTTH.
“Unfortunately, what our team was met with upon arrival was that our flag tops were offensive to some of the convention goers,” the dance group posted to Facebook. “There was a small group that felt ‘triggered and unsafe.'”
Co-captain Lindsay Stamp spoke with Rantz for The Jason Rantz Show, explaining that their costumes sparked a “small percentage” of complainants who brought up Israel’s war against Hamas and transgender issues.
“At first, we were told we would just be booed, yelled at, and likely many of them would walk out,” the group’s Facebook post explained. “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.”
“We don’t speak for our team; we speak on behalf of them, so the choice was theirs,” the post said. “As we knew would happen because there really was no choice in our minds, it was a unanimous NO.”
Stamp told Rantz that members of the team were shocked after they spent only 30 minutes at the venue before they started receiving complaints, adding that the team is patriotic but doesn’t make statements about politics.
“My team doesn’t take a political stance. We came to dance,” she said. “We’re a patriotic group. We support our military, our veterans, our first responders. We’re a group of patriots.”
In the Facebook post, the group said they were not the only ones who received this treatment.
“Our friends, West Coast Country Heat, who were also scheduled to dance for the convention that evening, also did not perform as they too proudly don the colors of our country in the same spirit of patriotism that we do,” the post said. “Both of our teams stood in solidarity and put actions to words.”
But, the group said watching the two teams band together was “the greatest performance.”
“These people are strong, resolute, and unwavering in their patriotism,” the Borderline Dance Team said. They are the families and friends of people who have suffered the unimaginable so that we may all have our own opinions and sleep soundly in our beds at night. THAT is why we wear the colors. Although we may not always agree with the current state of things, we recognize that being an American means true freedom.”
The post added, “We all understood and accepted this and walked out with class and dignity despite the discrimination we had experienced.”
The Rain Country Dance Association did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment but indirectly addressed the incident on Facebook.
