Last week, 25-year-old Jesse Hernandez broke professional sports barriers when he made his debut as the NFL’s first male cheerleader. On August 17, Hernandez was in the center for much of the New Orleans Saintsaitions performance ahead of the Saints vs. Arizona Cardinals preseason game. And while he performed the same choreography as his fellow squad members, Hernandez is forgoing the standard uniform of a tight dress, instead wearing a t-shirt and jeans and waving a white towel at certain times instead of the requisite pom-poms.

Check out the debut of Jesse Hernandez as a member of the Saintsations before the start of Friday's game in the Superdome. pic.twitter.com/EC85gD5xV2

— New Orleans Saints on NOLA.com (@SaintsNOW) August 18, 2018

Male cheerleaders coming to the NFL first made headlines back in March when the St. Louis Rams announced it had accepted two men, Quinton Peron and Napolean Jinnies, to join its formerly all-women cheerleading squad. They, too, will be making their historic NFL debuts soon, also without pom poms. A Rams spokesperson told Slate earlier this month, “...in conversations with Quinton and Napoleon, we found they both preferred not to use poms.”

Gendered clothing and accessories aside, the introduction of male cheerleaders is a weirdly contentious topic in an upcoming season full of them. Cheerleaders are still facing low wages and little protection from workplace discrimination and harassment; players are still at risk of getting devastating concussions even as there is little agreement within the league of how to prevent them; football fans continue to rage about whether or not the NFL should allow its players to protest racial injustice on the field. It’s gearing up to be a real shit storm, but at least this time we’ll get to watch some dudes dance.