Her Daughter Was Harassed By a Boy on the Girls’ Team. Now, She’s Speaking Out to Save Title IX

Abby Cross and her husband went to the leadership of their daughter’s Bridgeport, West Virginia, middle school with concerns over a biological male competing alongside their daughter in athletics.

“Nothing changed” for their daughter following the conversation, Cross says. 

Adaleia Cross, her mom says, has always loved sports and was excited to be a part of her middle school track and field team. But with a biological male competing alongside her, Adaleia not only began losing opportunities to compete because of the male student outperforming her, but also was subject to harassment at the hands of the student—even sexual harassment. 

“To make matters worse and more insulting,” her mother explained that “besides the sexual harassment, this student was saying things like, ‘You have more testosterone than I do, and I’m still beating you,’ which is just incredibly insulting.” 

The male also taunted Adaleia, saying, “‘You just need to work harder. I work harder than you. That’s why I’m beating you,’” the mother recalled. 

Unfortunately, Adaleia is a part of an ever-growing group of young women who have lost out on sports opportunities because of boys and men entering girls and women’s sports, who have been subjected to having to share locker rooms with males and have even faced harassment from males who identify as females.

Now, women across the nation are facing a similar risk thanks to a Biden administration rule change to Title IX set to take effect Aug. 1. 

The Biden administration has rewritten the definition of sex in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to include gender identity and sexual orientation. The change swings the door wide open for males to enter female-only spaces and compete in girls and women’s sports. 

A number of lawsuits have been filed since the Biden administration officially announced the new rule, including one by the conservative legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom. 

Alliance Defending Freedom is working to block the Title IX rule change on behalf of women and girls such as Adaleia Cross, and ADF attorney Rachel Rouleau says she is “very hopeful that this rule will be stayed and won’t go into effect on [Aug. 1], at least while the litigation in these cases goes on.” 

Abby Cross and Rouleau join “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share Adaleia’s story and to discuss where the lawsuits to stop the Title IX rule change stand. 

Listen to the podcast below: