Mary Brown represents AIDS paranoia and her clean, ordered world is filled with plastic flowers, fake sky and PVC outfits. The external shots of the colorful house complete with bright pink agricultural fencing were filmed in Palmdale, California. Themes But I'm a Cheerleader contains themes of sexuality, gender roles and social conformity. Chris Holmlund in Contemporary American Independent Film notes this feature of the film and calls the costumes "gender-tuned." Ted Gideonse in Out magazine wrote "the costumes and colors of the film show how false the goals of True Directions are". Rating and distribution When originally submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America rating board, But I'm a Cheerleader received an NC-17 rating. In order to get a commercially viable R rating, Babbit removed a two-second shot of Graham's hand sweeping Megan's clothed body, a camera pan of Megan's body when she is masturbating, and a comment that Megan "ate Graham out". Babbit was interviewed by Kirby Dick for his 2006 documentary film This Film Is Not Yet Rated. The film suggests that films with homosexual content are treated more stringently than those with only heterosexual content, and that scenes of female sexuality draw harsher criticism from the board than those of male sexuality. Babbit stated that she felt discriminated against for making a gay film. The film was rated as M (for mature audiences 15 and older) in Australia and in New Zealand, 14A in Canada, 12 in Germany and 15 in the United Kingdom. The film premiered on September 12, 1999, at the Toronto International Film Festival and was screened in January 2000 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was shown at other international film festivals including the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. It first appeared in US theaters on July 7, 2000, distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment. The film was first released to home video by Universal Studios on October 3, 2000, and by Lions Gate on July 22, 2002. It was released on Region 2 DVD on June 2, 2003, by Prism Leisure. In honor of the film's 20th anniversary, the director's cut of But I'm a Cheerleader was released on December 8, 2020, via video on demand and on Blu-Ray on June 1, 2021. Reception Box office and audience reaction But I'm a Cheerleader grossed $2,595,216 worldwide. In its opening weekend, showing at