Seattle line dancing team claim they were kicked out of a competition after organizers said their American flag-themed made some audience members feel 'triggered and unsafe'

A patriotic Seattle-area based line dancing troupe were left aghast when they were warned against wearing their stars and stripes themed shirts during the area's 'premier LGBTQ+ Country and Western Line Dance event.' 

The warning led to the Borderline Dance Team packing up and leaving the hoe down this past weekend. The group says that they would have been heckled and abused had they gone on with their planned routine. 

'Unfortunately, what our team was met with upon arrival was that our flag tops were offensive to some of the convention goers. There was a small group that felt "triggered and unsafe,"' a post on Boderline's Facebook page read. 

The post says that they were told they would be 'boo'd, 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... or don't perform at all, which effectively was asking us to leave,' the post continued.

'We don’t speak for our team, we speak on behalf of them so the choice was theirs. As we knew would happen because there really was no choice in our minds, it was a unanimous NO.'

Section 8 of the Flag Code reads in part: 'The flag should never be used as wearing apparel,' and 'No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.'

In an interview on right-wing radio host Jason Rantz's show this week, team co-captain Lindsay Stamp said they were only at the venue for around 30 minutes before they were told about people feeling uncomfortable. 

'My team doesn’t take a political stance. We came to dance. We’re a patriotic group. We support our military, our veterans, our first responders. We’re a group of patriots,' Stamp said.

According to Stamp, another team, the West Coast Country Heat, were also banned because of stars and stripes clothing. 

'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 Borderline post read.

'Both of our teams stood in solidarity and put actions to words.'

The post said that both teams deciding to leave was ultimately 'the greatest performance.' 

'These people are strong, resolute and unwavering in their patriotism.'

'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,' Borderline said.

'THAT is why we wear the colors. Because although we may not always agree with the current state of things, we recognize that being an American means true FREEDOM.'

'We all understood and accepted this and walked out with class and dignity despite the discrimination we had experienced.'

The organizers of the hoedown have yet to formally address the controversy. In a Facebook post, the organizers appeared to acknowledge it calling it a 'misunderstanding' and that they were waiting to speak with those involved before commenting further. 

The president of the group who organized the event, Ziadee Cambier, said in a Facebook post that nobody was 'asked to leave.'

'While we are mending our relationships directly with the dance teams we will be disabling comments on this post. We will be sharing more information later this week, to hopefully clear up any misunderstandings,' Cambier said.

Speaking to Rantz, Stamp said that the situation was 'clear.'

'I would just love to see more conversations opened about people accepting one another.'

'About being wholly inclusive. You know, every group of person talks about being inclusive and accepting. And I think that we need to work on being inclusive and accepting of people outside of our immediate comfort zones. I would love to see that,' Stamp said.