You Know You Want To.......

Are you always encouraging people, even if they are beating you?
Have you always had a secret love for wearing polyester?
Are you unnaturally flexible or bouncie and don't know how to exercise your special skills?
Do you find that many of your sentences rhyme and end with exlamation points?

If you said yes to any of these, then you might be Cheer New York material!

Try-Out Clinic:
Monday, July 31; 6:30 — 9:30 PM
Must attend clinic - mandatory

Official Tryouts:
Monday August 7; 6:30 — 9:30 PM

Email info@cheerny.org or call 888-671-7312 for location or for more information.

*Cheer NY also has non-performing "Auxiliary" members to help behind the scenes.*

Straight But Not Narrow

Since joining Cheer New York in July of 2005, I have been hearing, “Just wait for the Pride Parade. That’s what it’s all about.” As a straight woman on a primarily gay male squad, I could understand why the boys would be excited to perform in the largest event in the gay community. As for myself, I was thinking, “You’re throwing me in a basket-toss over asphalt?!”

However, as the parade drew nearer, we all caught Pride fever. CNY was given the special distinction of closing the parade, and as we stunted down the street, we could hear the screams of the crowd as they saw us flying through the air in our red, white, and blue. We felt like cheerleading superheroes! Ambassadors of spirit!

The energy of the crowd was palpable, and I realized that Pride is so much more than drag queens and men in leather thongs. Each year, on the last Sunday in June, thousands of people get together to celebrate their individuality. Whether you’re a Dyke on a Bike, a gay republican, or a 29 year-old cheerleader, we all have the inalienable right to be who we truly are. As we marched down the street, I realized that is why we were cheering. And that is what Cheer New York is about.

Watch out Chicago!

Cheer NY leaves for the Gay Games in one week!!

"What are these Gay Games?" you say. Well........

From July 15-22, 2006, Chicago will play host to the world and welcome thousands of athletes, spectators and cultural participants into the city for the seventh quadrennial Gay Games Sport and Cultural Festival. The Games will feature 12,000 participants from more than 70 counties, competing in 30 sports, world-class athletes and artists, band and choral performances, nightly medal ceremonies, a weeklong arts festival, parties and spectacular opening and closing ceremonies.

What happens when 12 Pride Cheerleading Association teams come together to perform at the largest LGBT event in the country?

They Create Fan-Addicts!!!

For the first time, cheer teams will be an official/sanctioned event of the Gay Games cultural program, adding even more excitement and energy to the weeklong cultural festival. Cheerleaders have always played a part in the Gay Games, but in Gay Games VII they will be full-fledged participants, receiving participant medals, marching with the other athletes and artists into the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and even performing in their own exhibition.

With Gay Games VII looming on the horizon, one can only guess at what exciting hallmarks are yet to be scribed in the Pride Cheerleading Association (PCA) history books. One thing for certain, however, is that whatever the challenge, the cheerleaders and team spirit participants will rise to it with unparalleled color and flair and onlookers will be left standing, jaws agape with amazement, thinking only:

"Aren't they FABULOUS!?"