In March 2022, Justine Lindsay made history as the NFL’s first openly transgender cheerleader. Three seasons later, the Carolina Panthers TopCat is stepping away from the squad to pursue pageantry and community outreach.
In a statement to Outsports, Lindsay said she wanted to grow beyond the sidelines, striving to be “recognized not just as an NFL cheerleader, but as someone making a positive impact, especially during these uncertain times.”
The announcement marks a reversal, as some news outlets had previously reported she would return for the 2025–2026 season.
She told the LGBTQ sports news website her “focus is to educate and uplift the younger generation of leaders to pursue their dreams and goals.”
Her charitable work includes supporting Time Out Youth and Southern Equality, two LGBTQ groups based in the South and dedicated to education, advocacy, and equality. In pageantry, Lindsay was recently crowned the 2025 Miss Charlotte Black Pride (Lady) winner.
In her statement, Lindsay took aim at the Trump administration, declaring, “Don’t let a president who is delusional stop them from reaching their goals whether they are trans, African American, not American, etc.”
Attacking the transgender community was a fixture of Trump’s 2024 campaign. One ad, aired more than 30,000 times in swing states, blasted Kamala Harris for backing tax-funded gender-affirming surgery for prisoners. The spot claimed the then-vice president was “for they/them,” while “President Trump is for you.”
In his second term, Trump has continued targeting transgender people. In January, he signed an executive order barring them from enlisting or serving in the U.S. military. A month later, he issued another order banning transgender girls and women from competing in female sports.
Lindsay’s departure leaves the league without a transgender cheerleader, but her impact endures through her ongoing LGBTQ advocacy.
“Being out on the field on Sundays representing this organization is more than me just being a cheerleader,” she told the NFL in 2022. “It’s being a face of the possible. I have had so many parents of young kids in the trans community say thank you for what I’m doing, and that their son or daughter is watching me. They are so pleased to see that I’m tearing down that wall.”
As she steps away from cheerleading, Lindsay reflected positively on her Panthers experience. “Being in the NFL was a stepping stone to get me where I need to be,” she told Outsports, “and God is blessing me each and every day.”
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Andry José Hernández Romero, deported in Trump’s immigration crackdown, was freed from El Salvador’s CECOT prison in a prisoner swap but still faces danger.
Gay asylum seeker Andry José Hernández Romero, a makeup artist and costume designer deported to El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) maximum-security prison, was released on July 18 as part of a prisoner swap, NBC News reported.
The swap was brokered by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, who agreed to free more than 200 Venezuelans from CECOT in exchange for Venezuela releasing 10 American political prisoners.
Most released detainees had been deported from the U.S. after Trump invoked the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify removing hundreds of undocumented immigrants, alleging ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which constituted an "invading force" whose members were committing serious crimes.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education, led by Superintendent Ryan Walters, will require teachers moving to the state to pass an ideological assessment -- including a refusal to recognize transgender identity as valid -- in order to be certified, despite a statewide teacher shortage.
The test, being developed with the right-wing media group PragerU, will evaluate applicants' knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, "American exceptionalism," and "the fundamental biological differences between boys and girls."
"We're sending a clear message: Oklahoma's schools will not be a haven for woke agendas pushed in places like California and New York," Walters said in a statement. "If you want to teach here, you'd better know the Constitution, respect what makes America great, and understand basic biology. We're raising a generation of patriots, not activists, and I'll fight tooth and nail to keep leftist propaganda out of our classrooms."
"Well, darlings... The curtain falls, the spotlight dims, and the rhinestones are packed," wrote former U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) on X Thursday evening. "From the halls of Congress to the chaos of cable news, what a ride it's been! Was it messy? Always. Glamorous? Occasionally. Honest? I tried... most days."
Hours later, the openly gay ex-congressman -- ever the drama queen to the end -- reported to federal prison to begin serving a seven-year sentence for fraud and identity theft.
Santos was sentenced in April to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He was ordered to pay $374,000 in restitution and forfeit more than $205,000 he earned through fraud.
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