Sexual Harassment Allegations Surface Against Trans Athlete as Supreme Court Weighs Landmark Case
A West Virginia attorney general addressed disturbing allegations of sexual harassment leveled against a transgender athlete just one day before the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case concerning transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ sports.
West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey spoke out Monday, acknowledging the seriousness of the allegations while emphasizing their tangential connection to the legal battle over the state’s law restricting participation in girls’ sports based on biological sex. “Any time you think of a child being harassed, it gives you pause as a parent,” McCuskey stated at a press conference. “And it isn’t really part of our case, but harassment of any child of any kind in this country is inappropriate. And it’s wrong, and we all need to stand up to ensure that children aren’t being harassed in any of their venues, particularly athletics.”
The allegations were brought forth by Adaleia Cross, a former track and field teammate of the athlete when both attended Bridgeport Middle School. According to Adaleia’s mother, Abby Cross, the transgender athlete allegedly made extremely graphic and vulgar sexual threats to her daughter and other girls on the team during the 2022-23 school year, when Adaleia was in eighth grade and the athlete was in seventh.
The athlete’s legal representatives at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have vehemently denied the allegations. In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, the ACLU asserted, “Our client and her mother deny these allegations and the school district investigated the allegations reported to the school by A.C. 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.”
However, the Cross family’s attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) countered the ACLU’s statement, asserting that their client has sworn under oath about the events that transpired. According to an ADF statement, “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.”
The transgender athlete also personally denied the allegations in a story published Monday by The New York Times, stating, “I was not raised like that.” A letter obtained by the outlet from the Harrison County School District indicated that an investigation determined Cross’s allegations “could not be substantiated.”
Despite reporting the alleged harassment to the school, the Cross family claims no action was taken to reprimand the athlete. “They told me they would do a full investigation into what I told them,” Adaleia said. “And then, all of a sudden, it was like nothing else was happening, it was done, and it seemed like they thought nothing 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 seemed like, yup it’s done.” Her father, Holden Cross, added, “We received no response from the school after filing the report.”
Fox News Digital reported making repeated requests to both the ACLU and the Harrison County School District for documentation related to the school’s investigation and clarification on whether an investigation occurred and, if so, why the Cross family was not notified of the results. Those requests remain unanswered.
At the same press conference, OutKick podcast host and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines recounted Adaleia’s testimony, stating the experience had “traumatized” Cross. “We have to worry about middle school-aged girls who have to worry about being told these things in an area of undressing,” Gaines said. “The alleged things that were said to her, as a parent myself now, and I would imagine my husband would have choice words if someone said things like that to our daughter. Relaying some of the things [Cross] said to me, it traumatized her.”
A photograph from the press conference shows Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador, West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey, and women’s sports activist Riley Gaines speaking ahead of the Supreme Court arguments.
McCuskey and Gaines were joined by attorneys general from Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Virginia, and Ohio, as well as legal counsel for the AG of Alabama, and four other women’s athlete activists: Olympic silver medal gymnast MyKayla Skinner, former U.S. 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 voiced their support for the “Save Women’s Sports” legal defense ahead of the Supreme Court’s hearing on two cases concerning transgender athletes in girls’ sports – including McCuskey’s case in West Virginia and a separate case in Idaho.
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador criticized the transgender athlete involved in the Idaho case for attempting to drop the lawsuit 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 U.S. Supreme Court,” Labrador stated. “So when they knew that they were in the Ninth Circuit that they would win, they were fine with having this case heard. When they knew that they were going to go before the Supreme Court, they decided to try to dismiss this case. I think that’s fundamentally unfair. I think that’s gamesmanship and I hope that the court, the U.S. Supreme Court sees it that way.”
Skinner reflected on her gymnastics career and motherhood, explaining her passion for protecting women’s sports. “Staying silent on issues that matter doesn’t serve the next generation of girls,” she said. “I’ve spent my entire life in women’s sports. I know how rare and hard one these opportunities are. That’s why what’s happening right now at the Supreme Court and in the states like Utah matter so much more.” Skinner emphasized, “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. That’s not controversial. It’s common sense.”
Petty shared her experience playing against a transgender athlete in college, describing the sacrifices she made to compete, including missing prom. “But instead of showing off those skills that I had been training my entire life to build, they watched a boy slam the ball in our faces,” she recounted. “Now, there were plenty of opportunities for this boy to play at the boys courts on the other side of the convention center where, mind you, the nets are over 7 in higher than our nets. But instead, it was humiliating. It was degrading to me as a female. And of course, it jeopardized my opportunity to even put that jersey on in the first place.”
Lorey criticized California leadership, including Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom, for allowing the state to be a focal point for controversies involving biological males competing in girls’ sports. “Our own attorney general, Rob Bonta won’t lift a finger to protect girls,” Lorey said. “When I testified at the California State Capital in defense of girls, an assembly member compared what we were saying to times of Nazi Germany.”
Sey, echoing Skinner’s sentiments, recounted her experience as a professional gymnast and asserted that she would not have achieved her success if forced to compete against males. “Why will little girls even bother to compete at a certain point when they know that it doesn’t matter to our institutions that it isn’t fair for them?” Sey warned. “I’m telling you, this is where this goes. They stop trying. They stop competing all together. Why would they bother if they have no chance of making the team, the podium, of winning? Eventually, they won’t. They will stop trying.”
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita was the only attendee at the press conference to express empathy for transgender athletes, becoming visibly emotional while recounting a 2022 lawsuit filed against his state by the ACLU and a 10-year-old transgender plaintiff. Rokita argued that the 10-year-old had been “co-opted by the left.” He stated, “That plaintiff in Indiana was 10 years old and I say my opinion is was co-opted by the left. That 10-year-old needs love and so do all the rest like her. That 10-year-old needs therapy. What that 10-year-old and all the ones like that person doesn’t need is to be affirmed in the wrongness that was that case in Indiana.” Rokita concluded, “So to my colleagues, good luck tomorrow. May justice prevail.”
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