Editing But I'm a Cheerleader (section)

==Themes==
[[File:Grahammeg.jpg|alt=Two young women face forwards, standing over a pink wooden cradle. Both are wearing pink outfits and the background is a pink room. The woman on the left has chin-length dark hair and holds in her right hand a plastic lifelike baby doll. With her left hand she pushes the other woman, who has long, light brown hair and also leans over the doll.|thumb|Graham and Megan attempt to reinforce their gender roles through performing traditional female tasks.]]

''But I'm a Cheerleader'' contains themes of [[Human sexuality|sexuality]], [[gender role]]s and [[Conformity|social conformity]]. Chris Holmlund in ''Contemporary American Independent Film'' notes this feature of the film and calls the costumes "gender-tuned".<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Holmlund |first=Chris |title=Contemporary American Independent Film: From the Margins to the Mainstream |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=0-415-25486-8 |editor-last=Holmlund |editor-first=Chris |chapter=Generation Q's ABCs: Queer Kids and 1990s' Independent Films |editor-last2=Wyatt |editor-first2=Justin}}</ref> Ted Gideonse in ''[[Out (magazine)|Out]]'' magazine wrote "the costumes and colors of the film show how false the goals of True Directions are".<ref name=":3" /> The film provides a positive representation of LGBTQ community by casting a diverse range of characters who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. This film has become a classic within the LGBTQ community as it helps raise awareness of the harms of conversion therapy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Syd |date=April 24, 2018 |title=But I'm a Cheerleader: Queer in Content and Production |url=https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cine/vol8/iss1/1/ |journal=Cinesthesia |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=Article 1 |no-pp=y}}</ref>