Justine Lindsay is in her second season as a Carolina Panthers TopCats cheer squad member after making history as the NFL’s first transgender cheerleader in league history in March 2022.
While the proud athlete continues to make strides in her career, she’s also making a difference off the field by using her platform to fight North Carolina’s law prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in sports aligned with their gender identity, The Charlotte Observer reported.
In an interview with Elle, the 30-year-old said the legislature discriminates against people like her, and she will do whatever she can for her “trans brothers and sisters” and help the next generation of young athletes to succeed in sports.
“I will fight this until I can’t fight anymore,” she affirmed.
North Carolina recently voted to rescind Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto on the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” bill he initially addressed in April. The law restricts transgender women from playing on female sports teams in middle, high school and college, per The Carolina Journal.
While the law doesn’t affect her position with the TopCats, she launched the podcast Real Time Real Talk to address anti-LGBTQ+ laws nationwide and advocate for inclusion in sports.
“Everything that I’m going through now, it’s bigger than me,” Lindsay told Elle. “I’m setting things up for the younger generation. No one is going to stop this show.”
In July, Blavity reported that Lindsay had just wrapped up her first season with the TopCats and reflected on how she rose above the negative comments she received from NFL fans and internet users.
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“I did face negative comments from trolls who were trying to make me feel bad about myself. At first, it was very hurtful because I’m just minding my own business. I even considered deleting my Instagram at one point — I mean, I’m just doing what I love to do, and I’m going out here, not even focusing on the fact that I’m trans,” she wrote in a personal essay with Insider.
She continued: “But I told myself, ‘Hey, listen, I’m making a change one way or another,’ and I just shut it out. Anytime you’re doing something great or positive, someone’s always going to come behind and try to steal your joy. So I just have to continue to do what I love to do.”
