West Virginia AG Responds to Harassment Allegations Against Trans Athlete

West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey spoke out in response to allegations of sexual harassment against a transgender athlete who has sued his state to block its law that keeps biological males out of girls’ sports.

McCuskey, who is leading his state’s legal defense against the trans athlete, whose case will be heard by the US Supreme Court on Tuesday, addressed the allegations at a press conference on Monday.

“Anytime you think about a kid being bullied, it gives you pause as a parent. And it’s not really part of our case, but the harassment of any child of any kind in this country is inappropriate. And it’s wrong, and we all have to stand up to make sure kids aren’t bullied in any of their venues, especially athletics,” McCuskey said.

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West Virginia AG Responds to Harassment Allegations Against Trans Athlete

The accusations were leveled against the trans athlete by Bridgeport High School student Adaleia Cross, who is a former teammate of the athlete when the two were at Bridgeport Middle School.

Cross’ mother, Abby, told Pakinomist Digital what the trans athlete allegedly said to her daughter when they shared the girls’ locker room during the 2022-23 school year. Adaleia was in eighth grade and the trans athlete was in seventh. Abby Cross claims the trans athlete made extremely graphic and vulgar sexual threats against her daughter and other girls on the team.

The trans athlete’s legal representatives at the American Civil Liberties Union have 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.

Cross family attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) 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 trans athlete personally denied the allegations to The New York Times in a story published Monday.

TOP DEMS QUIET AFTER TRANSATLET THEY STACKED IN SCOTUS CASE ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT, SCAMMING

“I wasn’t raised that way,” the athlete said.

The outlet received a letter from the Harrison County School District stating that an investigation determined that Cross’s claims “could not be substantiated.”

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.

OutKick podcast host and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines also addressed the allegations at Monday’s news conference, recounting Adaleia’s testimony and saying the experience “traumatized” Cross.

“We have to worry about middle school-aged girls who have to worry about being told these things in a strip area,” Gaines said. “They alleged things that were said to her, as a parent myself now, and I could imagine my husband would have choice words if someone said something like that to our daughter. Tell some of the things [Cross] told me it traumatized her.”

Gaines and McCuskey were joined on Monday by the attorneys general of Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Virginia, Ohio, legal counsel for the AG of Alabama and four other female athlete activists; Olympic silver medalist gymnast MyKayla Skinner, former USA gymnast and XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey, former NCAA volleyball player Macy Petty and former California collegiate women’s soccer player Sophia Lorey.

The group made remarks in support of “Save Women’s Sports” legal defense a day before the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases on the issue of trans athletes in girls’ sports, including McCuskey’s case in West Virginia and a separate case in Idaho.

Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador has been fighting a lawsuit by a trans athlete who sued to block the state’s women’s sports law since 2020, calling the trans athlete an attempt to drop the case after the Supreme Court agreed to review it.

“This athlete never decided to dismiss the case until the petition for cir was granted by the US Supreme Court. So knowing that they were in the Ninth Circuit that they were going to win, they were fine with getting this case heard. Knowing that they were going to the Supreme Court, they decided to try to dismiss this case. I think that’s what I think is unfair, and I hope the United States is unfair. The court sees it that way.”

Skinner reflected on her women’s gymnastics career and becoming a mother for her passion to join the fight to “save women’s sports.”

“Staying silent on issues that matter doesn’t serve the next generation of girls. I’ve spent my entire life in women’s sports. I know how rare and difficult these opportunities are. That’s why what’s happening right now at the Supreme Court and in states like Utah matters so much more,” Skinner said.

“Women’s sports exist because men and women are biologically different. In gymnastics, women don’t compete on the rings. Why? Because men are stronger. And events are designed around physiological reality. It’s not controversial. It’s common sense.”

Petty shared her experience of having to play a transgender athlete during her college career, talking about the hard work and sacrifices, including missing prom, that went into getting a chance to play volleyball.

“But instead of showing the skills that I’d trained my whole life to build, they saw a kid slap the ball in our face. Now there were plenty of opportunities for this kid to play on the boys’ courts on the other side of the convention center, where, mind you, the nets are over 7 in higher than our net. But instead, it was humiliating for me. And it was a humiliating opportunity for me, of course. even put on that jersey in the first place.”

Lorey ripped California’s leadership, including Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom, for continuing to allow the state to be a hotbed for controversial incidents involving biological males competing in girls’ sports.

“Our own Attorney General, Rob Bonta, will not lift a finger to protect girls,” Lorey said. “When I testified at the California State Capital in defense of girls, an assemblyman compared what we said to the times of Nazi Germany.”

Sey, like Skinner, spoke about her experience as a professional gymnast on her way to becoming a US champion, saying that she would never have achieved this if she had to compete against men.

“Why would little girls even bother competing at a certain point when they know it doesn’t matter to our institutions, that it’s not fair to them? I’m telling you, this is where it goes. They stop trying. They stop competing altogether. Why would they bother if they have no chance to make the team, the podium, to win? Eventually they’ll stop trying.”

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita was the only person in attendance Monday and called for empathy for the trans athletes, becoming visibly emotional while recounting an incident in 2022 when his state was sued by the ACLU and a 10-year-old transgender plaintiff for passing a law allowing only biological females in girls.

Rokita claimed the 10-year-old had been “co-opted by the left.”

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“That plaintiff in Indiana was 10 years old, and I’m saying my opinion was co-opted by the left. That 10-year-old needs love, and so does everyone else like her. That 10-year-old needs therapy. What that 10-year-old and everyone like that person doesn’t need is to be vindicated in the wrong case in Indiana,” Rokita said in Indiana.

“So to my colleagues, good luck tomorrow. May justice prevail.”