Adaleia Cross says SCOTUS ruling brought peace after years of struggle

For Adaleia Cross, the Supreme Court decision in the West Virginia women’s sports case was not just a legal victory.

It was personal.

Cross, a Bridgeport High School student in West Virginia, said the ruling gave her a “sense of peace” after years of speaking out about the transgender athlete at the center of the case. Cross has alleged that the athlete made comments to her in the girls’ locker room that amounted to sexual harassment when both were students at Bridgeport Middle School.

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Pakinomist Digital is not naming the trans athlete because the athlete is a minor.

“I definitely have a sense of peace about it all,” Cross told Pakinomist Digital after the ruling. “Even though I had to go through all that and it doesn’t make up for what I had to go through, I know that other girls can be protected, like my sister and my friends who are still on the team.”

Cross also sent a message to the athlete in the wake of the verdict.

“Jesus Christ loves [the athlete] and has room for [the athlete] if they want to be there,” she said.

Cross and her parents previously told Pakinomist Digital that the alleged sexual harassment took place in the girls’ locker room during the 2022-23 school year. Cross was in eighth grade and the trans athlete was in seventh.

“When Adaleia first told us, she told us [the trans athlete] told her and other girls — my d—,” Cross’ mother, Abby Cross, said in December.”[The trans athlete] told her, came up and told her, ‘I’m going to stick my d— in your p—- and also in your a–.’ At different times [the trans athlete] said these things to her.”

But Adaleia said Wednesday that the entire locker room changed after the athlete joined the girls’ team.

“Lots of girls afterwards [the athlete] came into our locker room, started going to the bathroom,” Cross said. “They started changing in stalls, which wasn’t really normal.”

“You would have children separated to try not to be around [the athlete]but it was still difficult, because during track meets you had to participate [the athlete]” she added. “Girls were just uncomfortable.”

“They didn’t want to be around [the athlete]Cross said.

Cross said the discomfort even spread beyond her own team.

“I know other teams started canceling coming to track meets so their girls wouldn’t have to deal with it,” Cross said. “It’s just really sad to see all that happen.”

“Girls deserve to have that space,” she added. “And it’s just been taken away.”

The ACLU has previously denied the allegations.

“Our client and her mother deny these allegations, and the school district investigated the allegations reported to the school by AC and found them to be unsubstantiated. We remain committed to defending the rights of all students under Title IX, including the right to a safe and inclusive learning environment free from harassment and discrimination,” read an ACLU statement provided to Pakinomist Digital.

But Cross family attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) then responded to the ACLU’s statement.

“Our client has sworn under oath and under penalty of perjury in numerous cases about the events that took place between her and the male athlete. As a result of the situation, [Cross] had to step away from the sport she loved entirely and sacrifice a key element of her school experience to protect herself,” read an ADF statement provided to Pakinomist Digital.

The Cross family said that when they reported the alleged harassment to the school, nothing was done to reprimand the trans athlete to their knowledge.

“They told me they were going to do a full investigation of what I told them,” Adaleia said. “And then, all of a sudden, it was like nothing else happened, it was done, and it seemed like they didn’t think anything of it because they didn’t talk to us about it at all, they just left it there and didn’t tell us anything else, so it just made it seem like, yeah, it’s done.”

Her father, Holden Cross said: “We received no response from the school after filing the report.”

Pakinomist Digital made repeated requests to the ACLU and the Harrison County School District, which oversees Bridgeport Middle School and Bridgeport High School, seeking documentation related to the school’s investigation and clarifying whether an investigation took place and, if so, why only the Cross family was not notified of the findings. These requests have not been granted.

Pakinomist Digital has since reached out to the ACLU and the Harrison County School District for a response to Adaleia Cross’s statements, but has not received a response.

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The SCOTUS victory came with a price for Cross

The Supreme Court ruled on June 30 that schools can base eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports on biological sex. The court overturned rulings against West Virginia and Idaho, whose laws limit girls’ and women’s sports teams to biological women.

Despite the victory, Cross said there was a cost to joining the cause.

“The hardest part of the whole situation for me has been losing friends that I’ve had for years,” she said. “I’ve been friends with these kids since elementary school, early elementary school, and seeing as we get older and we get into high school, they just don’t want anything to do with me.”

“People I love don’t want to talk to me now,” she added.

She said that during her sophomore year, she wore a shirt that said “Save Women’s Sports.” Cross said other students also wore the shirt because they were “angry about what happened.”

Then, she said, she went into the home.

“My homeroom teacher that I had for two years told me that she sees me as a lesser person,” Cross said. “It was really scary for me.”

“I didn’t know what to say,” Cross said. “I kind of left. And in my junior year, I had been moved from my homeroom.”

Cross said most of her high school has supported her. But she said a small group has been loud enough to make everyday life more difficult.

“My high school has been very supportive,” Cross said. “A lot of teachers, the administration, I know they support me. Most of the kids know they support me.”

But, she said, “there’s a very small population that doesn’t, and they’re extremely vocal about it.”

“They’re aggressive and there’s been threats and there’s been hate,” Cross said. “So even though it’s like an 80/20, it feels more like a 50/50, which has been difficult.”

Along the way, Cross also got to see the athlete win the girls’ state shot put championship last May, just weeks before the Supreme Court ruling that later banned the athlete from competing against girls.

“It was extremely frustrating for me and because I know several other girls,” Cross said of the trans athlete who won the championship.

“All my friends who have worked to be at the top for years, they had the top spot taken away from them, and then everywhere else, um, behind, and it’s just been really hard. Even though I’m not competing, I know the frustrations that everyone else has, and they don’t have a chance, and it’s not their fault, it’s the biological reality.”

And now, despite the athlete not returning to the girls’ sport, Cross said she won’t be returning to the sport either, as it’s been too long since she last competed.

“As much as I’d like to, I don’t plan on it. I’m going to be a senior this year, and after not participating for two years, I won’t be anywhere near comparing to the other girls because of the training they’ve had versus what I haven’t had,” she said.

How she got through it

Cross said she was 14 when she first had the chance to speak publicly about what she says happened. She said she was scared.

“When I first had the opportunity to stand up, I was 14 and I was scared and I didn’t really want to,” Cross said. “I told God I would do it if He made it absolutely clear to me, and He did. He’s been showing up for me ever since.”

Cross said a Bible verse helped convince her to move forward.

“The next day I picked up my phone and the verse of the day on the Bible app was Esther 4:14, which is, ‘Perhaps you were made for such a time as this,’ and I knew that’s what he wanted me to do,” Cross said.

She said the verse stayed with her through the case.

“Throughout the whole thing, that verse has been so prevalent in my life,” Cross said. “He has remained faithful.”

Cross said the case has also changed the way she views her own school experience.

Bridgeport High School, she said, is built around sports and activities. Cross said she has had to drop three extracurriculars she loved because of the fallout.

“I definitely feel like I’ve missed a little bit of the camaraderie and friendship that comes from it,” Cross said. “I definitely miss it, but it’s all worth it to protect women and girls.”

Cross said she believes the national debate often leaves out the girls who are directly affected.

“I think the media likes to focus heavily on how transgender athletes feel about the situations that happen,” Cross said. “What they should focus on is how the biological women are affected.”

“This is their space and it’s being taken away from them,” she added.

She said her frustration is not only with the athlete, but with the adults she believes failed to protect her.

“It’s really frustrating for my school district because I went to them with the issues and I thought they were going to handle it and I thought they were going to protect me,” Cross said. “I know they confirmed it happened. I know several other kids confirmed it happened to me and they completely ignored it.”

“They tried to silence me,” she added. “They tried to silence my parents and it’s really frustrating, especially as a 14-year-old.”

Cross said the experience still weighs on her because she wonders how many other girls might be afraid to speak up.

“I just wanted to compete in sports,” Cross said. “It’s really hard to think even now, knowing how many other kids they could do that to? How many other situations of sexual abuse are happening that they’re keeping quiet? It’s just really frustrating.”

Now, with the Supreme Court ruling behind her, Cross said she hopes people will look beyond the politics and listen to girls who say they’ve been affected.

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“I encourage people to think for themselves,” Cross said. “Actually look at the facts of the cases and what has actually happened to countless girls and not let the media tell them what to think.”

“Actually use their minds,” she added, “and look at what’s actually happening.”