The first transgender cheerleader in the National Football League has thoughts on his departure from the Carolina Panthers.
The cheerleader, who goes by Justine Lindsay and was with the Panthers since 2022, was speaking to Gaye Magazine, when he claimed his identity as a transgender person was the reason he was cut.
“I was cut because I’m trans. I don’t wanna hear nobody saying ‘She didn’t wanna come back.’ Why the hell would I not wanna come back to an organization that I’ve been a part of for three years,” he asked.
Trans cheerleader Justine Lindsay says he was cut from the Panthers because he was trans.
“I was done wrong… they wasn’t even looking at the bigger picture as far as who I was changing lives for… it was a big slap in the face to not only me but for the youth.” pic.twitter.com/FlI0ZlE2P1
— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) November 24, 2025
“I love them down. I appreciate everything that they’ve done for me, but I feel like I was done wrong,” he said, clearing the air that he has no ill will toward the team itself. “It was like a big slap in the face to not only me but for the youth. And this was right after Trump became president.”
President Donald Trump’s return to the White House brought with it a wave of anti-woke, anti-DEI sentiment that has resulted in many companies and organizations abandoning programs that had been implemented under former President Joe Biden and other previous presidents. During the first month of his second term, Trump signed an executive order that prevents biological males from joining female sports teams, using female bathrooms and changing in female locker rooms at schools that are subject to Title IX and receive federal funding. Those institutions that fail to comply with this order could be subject to investigation and potential loss of funding.
X users weighed in:
It never crossed his mind that he just wasn’t a talented cheerleader?
— MrsRanchoFiesta (@MrsRanchoFiesta) November 24, 2025
So he expected to stay on the team just because he was trans, despite being less talented than the other cheerleaders. Got it.
— LadyInBaltimore (@LisaInBaltimore) November 24, 2025
Being able to blame anything that happens to you based on something you are (in my case, a woman) is ultimately how people will never have any self awareness or improve themselves in life
— Adrianne Curry (@AdrianneCurry) November 24, 2025
He didn’t get cut from the team because he’s trans, he got put ON the team because he’s trans. He got cut because he sucks.
— Constance Plumbottom (@CPlumbottom) November 24, 2025
Why doesn’t he just identify as a cheerleader if he wants to be one?
— Cali-refugee (@RefugeeCali) November 24, 2025
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