The Daily Signal - A Mother's Story: Her Daughter Was Harassed By a Boy on the Girls’ Team

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

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.”  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 facied 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.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She doesn't want this to be happening to her, first of all. But since it did, she very much doesn't want it to happen to other girls. She doesn't want this to affect any other girls. No girl should have to go through this. Welcome to the Daily Signal podcast for Monday, May 20th. I'm Virginia Allen. And that was Abby Cross. Abby Cross is a mother from West Virginia.

And her daughter was forced to compete against a biological male on her track team. Abby Cross is joining us today to share her story and why she and her family are standing up against the Biden administration's new Title IX rule that swings the door wide open for men to compete against women. Also joining us today is Rachel Rulow, who's an alliance defending freedom attorney who's working with Abby and her family on this case to protect women's sports now and in generations to come. Stay tuned for our conversation after this. For over 35 years, the Heritage Foundation Job Bank has been helping conservatives at all professional levels find employment in key positions in Washington, D.C., and across the country.

We can help you connect with positions in the administration on Capitol Hill, in public policy organizations, and in the private sector. To learn more about the Heritage Foundation Job Bank, go to heritage.org. job dash bank. We've been following the news very closely here at the Daily Signal podcast regarding the Biden administration's rewrite of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Congress passed Title IX in order to provide equal educational opportunities for men and women, and that included in the area of sports. Now, Biden has put forth a new rule to redefine sex in Title IX to include gender

identity and sexual orientation. Well, that swings the door wide open for men who identify as women to enter women's spaces, only spaces, such as locker rooms and bathrooms, and also to compete in women's sports. Multiple lawsuits have been filed since Biden officially announced the new rule will take effect on August 1st. Alliance defending freedom has filed multiple lawsuits against this rule change and against the Biden administration, including in the Sixth Circuit. At the center of that lawsuit filed against the Biden administration in the Sixth Circuit is a young woman named Adelaia Cross, her mother, Abby Cross, and Alliance Defending Freedom. Rachel Rulow, join us here on the show today to discuss this situation. Thank you both so much for being here.

Thanks for having us. Well, this is a critical conversation and an issue that is capturing the attention of the nation because it does affect so many people. and affects future generations to come. I want to start Abby with your story. And if you would, share a little bit about your daughter. You all live in West Virginia, correct? Correct. And your daughter is in eighth grade or about to graduate?

She is in ninth grade this year, actually. Okay, ninth grade this year. Excellent. Well, tell me a little bit about your daughter's love of sports. Okay. we have had Adelaia in sports. She's our oldest child. So we've had her in sports since, I think, about 18 months. You know, we did the Mommy and Me gymnastics. And she's tried her hand at a ton of them. She loves competing. She loves being, you know, she thrives off of being in groups of people. So COVID happened her fifth grade year. And so, you know, that very much shut everything down.

She struggled with, you know, not being able to be out and be in groups and enjoying her sports. And so when middle school started, her first year, sixth grade kind of was still, they didn't allow a lot. And it was still kind of, you know, just not a normal sixth grade year. But so seventh grade was the year that she made her middle school track team. It was her first middle school sport, and she was extremely proud. So that's kind of what led us to this place. And Abby, when did you learn that there was a biological male who was competing as a female on Adelaia's track and field team? So we had known as soon as track started because Adelaia had been involved in school plays.

and this student's older brother was also in the place. And he was very open about it. So as soon as this student made the team as well, Adelaia came home and told us that it was going on. Okay. And what was the situation at that point? And what were your thoughts? Were you concerned?

Or did you just sort of think, oh, you know, help this individual, this man who identifies us? as a woman will kind of do their own thing, or were you worried right off the bat? So as a former female athlete, I definitely disagreed with the idea of biological men competing in women's sports. You know, it's just inherently unfair, especially once puberty happens. And it's a hard lesson that all talented female athletes have to learn at some point that we just, we can't compete with them.

So we weren't, and we were shocked that it was going on and already, you know, they were so young, you know, saddened by it. However, this student was very open about the fact that his family was in a lawsuit with the state of West Virginia, open with the kids on the team, open about the fact that he was on puberty blockers. So, and our Adelaia will come. She tells us everything. She's an open book, so she would come home and tell us. And so that first year, we tried to give it, you know, kind of the benefit of the doubt. I thought I've never, you know, we've never experienced this before in any form, let alone with a child who's on puberty blockers. We, you know, we tried to give it the benefit of the doubt and, and, you know, treat the situation as normal, as normal as we could.

And was that male student using the same locker room as Adelaia and the other females on the track and field team? So the school had shut their locker rooms down in the middle school, but the facility is shared with the high school. And so it really didn't solve the problem because then they would leave the school, go to the high school locker room, which wasn't shut down. So yes, they were sharing locker rooms. Adelaia felt uncomfortable changing around a boy, so she would, and as well as many other girls that found issue with it would go change in the bathroom. We know that some were being allowed to leave class early so they could get changed. So it was kind of this weird, you know, uncomfortable situation for not just Adelaia, but a lot, most of the the girls. Yeah. Well, you mentioned that Adelaia is an open book. That's awesome that you have a

daughter that's so open. What was she saying to you guys when she came home from practice or from meets? How was she feeling about the situation? You know, she was young at that when, you know, that year she was 13, a new 13, trying to be open-minded. But definitely, but I know she felt confused. like I said, you know, embarrassed about the locker room. But by the end of that seventh grade year, there were like a few uncomfortable and confusing comments made. So it just kind of like, and then into her eighth grade year when they still competed, when it really progressed.

So it just kind of became like something that she was kind of juggling and going along with to pretty like uncomfortable. comfortable situation. Well, and I know she did a phenomenal job writing a piece for Fox News, sharing some of that, and even used the term sexual harassment and sexually harassed. And you all went as a family to the school and just expressed some concerns over the situation. What was the response that you were met with? when she told us that eighth grade year the things that were being said, you know, we were horrified

and really distressed by it. And we had also heard from other, you know, parents, you know, similar things. So we were just pretty alarmed. So we immediately went to the school, reported it. you know, they told us that they take this very seriously. They said they were going to call out to lay it into the office and, and questioned her. So she did that. She gave names of other students who could cooperate her story. And then, you know, they said, don't tell, don't say anything to anyone. Don't tell anyone you talk to us. We're going to do an investigation. And then we never heard back from them again. nothing changed as far as, you know, for Adelaia.

She felt like she questioned whether they even spoke to the student that she was alleging these things about because there was really no shift in dynamic. So, I mean, we were just so hurt and shocked. You know, we're from this area. My husband went to the same middle school. It's a small town. So we were just kind of blown away by the reaction. And then at that point, Adelaide kind of started removing herself front, like she didn't go to her eighth grade track night.

So it was just really like hard and sad to watch her happy good at such a young age. Was she removing herself because she felt uncomfortable around that male student? I would guess so. she didn't fully voice it, but I just saw a change in demeanor in the fact that she didn't, you know, she said, I don't really want to go tonight. I don't think she ever expressed 100% why, but that was unusual for her. And as her mom, I could pick up on the hurt that she was feeling. Yeah. What were the implications on the field and field events and track events? Was she having to compete against this male student?

Yes, they were both on the throwing throwing shot foot and discus. She had done that both years as well as the student had. And the first year, Adelaia was competing in top three. The student wasn't. It was kind of, you know, playing out. But then her eighth grade year, he started throwing much farther, just kind of sudden. which is unusual, started knocking girls out of their place. And so in track, as the season goes on, at least in there, here in Bridgeport, only the top three, once you get to bigger meets, they can only take the top three competing students to keep the time in check. So she had already been knocked out of shopput, but Discus was her, you know, her best. event. And then finally for the last few meets, her coach pulled her side and told her that she had been knocked out of that as well. And then to make matters worse and more insulting,

besides the sexual harassment, the student was saying things like, you have more testosterone than I do, and I'm still beating you, which is just incredibly insulting. You know, you just need to work harder. I work harder than you. That's why I'm beating you. So it's just insult to injury on multiple levels, really. Yeah. Rachel, I want to pull you in here and just help us understand the context because obviously Title IX, the rule change to Title IX has not gone into effect yet. And I know that West Virginia has been promoting protection of girls' sports and women's and there was a previous lawsuit with this same male student that in legal documents is referred to as BPJ. Those are the initials of the male student.

So just to explain, how was it that with West Virginia trying already to pass legislation to protect women's sports, the rule change, not in effect. How was this male student allowed to compete in middle school against females? Yes. So West Virginia did pass their women's sports law that would protect women's sports and allow only women and girls to compete in women's sports that would avoid a lot of the situations that Abby was just talking about. But unfortunately, right after West Virginia passed this law, the ACLU sued and challenged the law on behalf of this male student BPJ. We intervened in that lawsuit to protect this law to keep it in place, to keep women and girls safe. very quickly after it was challenged.

The court granted what's called a preliminary injunction, which would put a stay on the law for right now, and it really only impacted. So that law was stayed, and so it didn't go into effect because, and it allowed BPJ to compete on the woman's team. And that's what we are seeing all of these impacts like Abby is describing. And we intervene in that lawsuit because we wanted to avoid the exact things

that happens to Adelaia. And that's what's so frustrating about. this is that there are 24 other save women sports laws across the country that are protecting women and girls right now. But this Title IX rule change will come in and it will remove those protections from girls because even in the last three years, this male student has displaced female athletes over 600 individual times just being allowed to compete on the cross country and track and field team against female athletes. And so we want to ensure that these rules do not go into effect. So these types of effects don't happen to more girls. across the country. And Rachel, this is the same male student who recently we saw the news that there

were a few female athletes who decided together in West Virginia that they were going to forfeit and not compete in a throwing competition against this male student. This is the same male, correct? Yes, this is the same male student that's competing and that all those girls boycotted against just a few weeks ago. And so we're thankful that the girls are, it was great to see girls standing up for this, but it's unfortunate because it shouldn't be on the girl's shoulders to have to forfeit and to sit out of their own competitions because, you know, the adults in the room, the government is allowing males to compete on girls' teams. Girls shouldn't have to take themselves out of the running just to make sure that they have an equal and level playing field.

Because it's so, the season where you get to compete as a female athlete is so short in so many different respects. I mean, Adelaidea as a freshman, she only has a few more years left to compete. She shouldn't have to boycott and sit out just because their males are allowed to compete on women's teams. Yeah. Given the lawsuit that's pending right now in West Virginia as that moves forward in their protection of women's sports act and then the other states that have those laws already on the books, what would happen come August 1st if this rule change goes into a, effect and sex is redefined within Title IX, would that overrule any states that have passed laws to protect women's sports?

That's correct. That's exactly what we're concerned about is that almost half the country has protections for women and girls for women's sports. And these rules really would overrule those protections. And so we're already seeing the dangers of what happens when males are allowed to compete on women's teams. We have the example of Adelaia. But then we also have in more contact sports situations where a girl in North Carolina

was hit in the face with a volleyball and received a concussion playing against a male athlete. We saw it in Massachusetts for a high school girl who had her teeth knocked out, playing against a boy in field hockey. We're seeing the dangers of what's happening already. And so we really are hoping that through this lawsuit in the Sixth Circuit, and then in our other lawsuits that we have across the country, this rule will not go into effect on August 1st, the woman and girls could be protected. Abby, for you as a mother, for your daughter, Adelaia, for your family, why did you decide,

okay, we are going to speak out on this issue and take also a legal stance to try and reverse course so that men are not allowed to compete in women's sports? We were just so taken aback by the situation, and we were thankfully able to get in contact with the Alliance defending freedom rather quickly at the time because we were aware of the legal situation surrounding the school of the team, BPJ. There are articles out that had been put out by the ACLU and similar. Really with their take or story about what was going on at Bridgeport Middle School and within the teams and I would read those stories and it wasn't um wasn't really I didn't feel like it was

factual and I just felt like at the time I thought and I knew the alliance offending freedom was helping um with the case in West Virginia I did not expect it to really turn into what it has but I thought they need to know the truth about what's going on um because it's and we had had coaches and mothers and students. We've just had so many stories told to us. So many sad, you know, like I said, Adelaia is kind of an open book. She's a brave girl. She's outspoken. But a lot of these young girls, you know, they're more shy. They, they don't, they were even scared to tell their parents what was going on. So, and parents and coaches are afraid to speak out as well and I just felt like after the the ball kind of got rolling it just felt like

someone has to speak up and and if it if it has to be us then then we'll do it because we just we know that it's the right thing to do. Rachel how likely is it that this lawsuit and the others filed in circuit courts across the country against this rule change will prevent this rule change from taking effect on August 1st as the Biden administration intends it to? Yeah, so we're very hopeful that this rule will be stayed and won't go into effect on August 1st, at least while the litigation in these cases goes on. This is one of four lawsuits we have across the country right now. And actually in Adelaia's case in the Sixth Circuit, there's already been a hearing set on June 10th. So the court will hear our arguments as to why this law shouldn't

go into effect before August 1st. And so we're very hopeful that this rule, won't go into effect. That's why we've been so active across the country to protect women and girls because, I mean, the entire reason Title IX was passed in the first place was to provide equal opportunities for women and girls and in educational opportunities and in sports. And there's a reason that we have sex separated sports because males have this 10 to 50 percent advantage over girls. And so we're very hopeful that this rule won't go into effect. And so more other girls like Adelaia don't have to have these types of experiences. Abby, I want to give you the final word here.

If Adelaia was having this conversation with us here today, what do you think she would like to say? I just think that, or I know, because I've heard her say it, she just really, she doesn't want this to be happening to her, first of all. But since it did, she very much doesn't want it to happen to other girls. Like she said in her article, she has an 11-year-old sister. who's very athletic and, you know, I know that that weighs heavily on her. I think she's even had nightmares about it, but I know that she would just say that she doesn't want this to

affect any other girls. No girl should have to go through this. I really want to thank both of you for your time today. Abby, thank you for just being willing to share your story, your daughter's story, what your family is walking through. Rachel, thank you for your legal expertise on this, and we look forward to following this case as it moves forward. Thank you so much. Thanks so much for having us. And with that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for being here with us on the Daily Signal podcast.

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