After seeing Gerard Way perform in a cheerleading uniform, fans are not okay (they promise).
My Chemical Romance’s frontman flaunted his team spirit in a green-and-white cheer dress emblazoned with a “W” in front during the band’s concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.
“The uniform is vintage, but it was completely reworked/redesigned to fit Gerard,” says costume designer Marina Toybina to Page Six Style.
“It was originally a women’s size four, and we were able to completely disassemble it and recreate it for stage.”
While Way, 45, has never explicitly confirmed his sexual orientation or described himself as non-binary, he does use “he/they” pronouns and discussed his “gender identity issues” during a Reddit AMA in 2015.
“I have always identified a fair amount with the female gender, and began to express this through my look and performance style at a certain point in MCR,” they wrote at the time.
Fans flocked to Twitter to praise Way’s gender-fluid performance ensemble.
“No bc for years gerard has talked about their gender dysphoria, and hinted at his fluidity, but that was when he was deep into drugs and alcohol,” one wrote. He’s finally healthy, happy, and sober, and he’s embracing his femininity more, which is very important to me.”
“All jokes aside, I’m really happy that Gerard feels comfortable enough to publicly defy gender norms because they’ve been very open in the past about struggling with gender and feeling more connected to femininity,” another said.
“You guys don’t understand,” a third fan wrote. As a trans person, seeing Gerard be comfortable being feminine and wearing a dress makes me so happy, and I’m so proud of them for being able to openly explore gender expression that I’m literally crying right now.”
Way has long expressed support for MCR’s LGBTQIA+ fans, which was unusual in the early-2000s pop-punk scene.
“If there’s time after a show, I’ll do a signing, and I’ll usually meet at least a handful of either non-binary kids or transgender kids,” he told Kerrang! in 2015.
“I think there’s a connection there for them that they feel safe at one of my shows because I’m expressive, and because I’m pretty fearless with the expressiveness.” Because being a transgender child requires courage. There’s some sort of link there.”
After announcing their breakup in 2013, MCR released their first song in eight years, the six-minute track “The Foundations of Decay,” in May.
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed back their much-anticipated 2020 tour, and they only played one show after their reunion, but they’re now embarking on a multi-date tour.
Way’s cheerleading outfit might make another appearance.
