But I'm a Cheerleader is a 1999 American black comedy romantic teen film directed by Jamie Babbit in her feature directorial debut and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, a high school cheerleader whose parents send her to a residential in-patient conversion therapy camp to "cure" her lesbianism. The supporting cast includes Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarty, RuPaul, and Melanie Lynskey. The film, which has developed a cult following, is noted for its satirical style and is generally considered to be one of the best LGBT films ever made.

Plot

Seventeen-year-old Megan Bloomfield is a happy high school senior who loves cheerleading and is dating Jared, a football player. However, she does not enjoy kissing Jared, instead preferring to look at her fellow cheerleaders. This, combined with her interests in vegetarianism and Melissa Etheridge, leads her parents, Peter and Nancy, and friends to suspect that she is a lesbian. Aided by ex-gay Mike, they surprise her with an intervention. She is then sent to True Directions, a two-month-long conversion therapy camp intended to convert attendees to heterosexuality via a five-step program in which they admit their homosexuality, "rediscover" their gender identity by performing stereotypically gender-associated tasks, find the root of their homosexuality, demystify the opposite sex, and simulate heterosexual intercourse. Upon arrival, she meets strict disciplinarian Mary J. Brown, who, according to the film's backstory, founded True Directions after her husband left her for another man. Mary's supposedly "heterosexual" son Rock is seen throughout the film to actually be overtly homosexual, making multiple sexual overtures towards Mike and the other male campers.