Coaches look the other way while high school girls have to share sports and even rooms with biological males
Some might wonder why a sophomore in high school — busy with classes, band and sports — sought the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in my favor recently. Now, I can proceed with my case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit unencumbered, for now, by Biden-Harris administration overreach.
The high court denied the administration’s request to start enforcing Title IX rule changes that could have a pretty big effect on the rest of my teenage years by allowing males into women’s spaces. Title IX is the federal law designed to create equal opportunities for female students in education and athletics, and I, through my attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, oppose the administration’s unlawful attempts to redefine it. So do women’s groups, scholars, 20 states and others who have now filed briefs in my support at the 6th Circuit.
Most teenagers are uncomfortable sharing restrooms, locker rooms and hotel rooms with the opposite sex. Sharing private space is hard enough, even with a sibling, a friend or someone your same age and sex. It’s that much harder if you’re sharing with someone who’s none of those things — especially if that someone is making crude, sexually harassing comments.
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I put up with that all through middle school. I chose to join my school’s track team, running the 4 x 100-meter races, pole vaulting and throwing shot put and discus. It was fun, and I was competitive — one of the top three girls in my school for those latter two events.
The Supreme Court gave Adaleia Cross a chance to fight for women's sports in court. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
That all changed when a male a grade behind me chose to identify as a girl and joined our team — focusing on the same sports I did. As seasons passed, I soon saw how male size and strength could beat even my greatest efforts — and those of most other girls, too.
Over these last two years, this one student has displaced almost 300 different female athletes — beating them in competition and taking their places at meets — over 700 times.
I saw a lot of that firsthand. Almost every day, in the locker room, out on the track and in the throwing pits for discus and shot put, this student made crude, sexually explicit comments about me and other girls — many of which I found physically threatening.
And yet, I was expected to change clothes in front of — and go to the restroom in the same room with — the male making those comments. Some of us began wearing school clothes to practice or our practice clothes to classes just to avoid changing in front of this one student.
Yes, we complained to our coaches and administrators, but we never heard back from any of them.
This same student plays in the school’s marching band with me. This means there’s a good chance I’ll have to change in front of him for those events, too.
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Then, there are overnight trips, like the one I took last year for Youth and Government to visit our state capital. On those trips, school officials usually have four girls share a room. But some schools are letting males stay in those rooms, too — and often without adult chaperones around.
All these things make me uncomfortable. I don’t like showering or sleeping in the same room with a male, even if he identifies as a girl. I don’t like being that vulnerable, especially in front of someone who’s making leering, suggestive comments.
Adaleia Cross (middle) at the Harrison County Middle School Championships held at Liberty High School’s Mazzei Reaser Athletic Complex in Clarksburg, W.V, on April 12, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom)
For me and for most girls I know, the fact that males are participating in our sports takes all the fun out of competing. Not only does it make us feel unsafe, but the older we get, the more obvious it becomes that they’re going to beat us, more and more easily … that the records, the medals and the opportunities will be going to them.
What’s the point of competing if we have no chance of winning? Why take the time and make the effort only to expose ourselves to sexual harassment and possibly worse, while coaches and administrators deliberately look the other way? Why bother to object to what’s happening when so many are waiting to call us "transphobes" just for expressing our feelings and concerns?
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Since I’m one grade above the male student I competed against, I had a small reprieve from all the frustrations I experienced in middle school. But this year, that student is entering high school. Once again, we’ll be on the same team, practicing the same sports, playing in the same band.
Some people don’t seem to understand why that is a problem. I’m just glad that, at least for now, the Supreme Court did, and I hope the 6th Circuit will, too.
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Adaleia Cross is a 15-year-old student in West Virginia.
