Carolina Panthers hire NFL's first openly transgender cheerleader

Source: Scott Cunningham / Getty

The Carolina Panthers made history by hiring the first openly transgender cheerleader for the 2022-2023 NFL season.

Shattering the NFL glass ceiling, as a Black trans woman Justine Lindsay is the newest member of the Panthers’ cheer squad, the Topcats.

She announced she made the team in an Instagram post saying, “Cats Out the Bag you are looking at the newest member of the Carolina Panthers TopCats Cheerleader’s @topcats as the first Transgender female.”

In an interview with BuzzFeed News the 29-year-old spoke about breaking the news on social media.

“I was so scared,” Lindsay told BuzzFeed News. “There’s just some things you can’t post. I just felt like when I posted it, whatever reaction I get from everyone, it does not matter,” Lindsay said. “And then my phone started blowing up.”

Meet Justine Lindsay:

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