Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 11

Adaleia Cross Alleges 2022 Locker-Room Harassment, Says Teacher Called Her 'Less of a Person'

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 11

Adaleia Cross Alleges 2022 Locker-Room Harassment, Says Teacher Called Her 'Less of a Person'

Q: After a landmark court ruling, why does a student at the center of the debate still feel unable to return to her sport?

Adaleia Cross says the ruling came too late to restore what she lost. Although the Supreme Court’s decision allows schools to base girls’ sports eligibility on biological sex, she says she does not plan to return because she has already been out of competition for two years and, entering her senior year, believes she cannot realistically catch up to athletes who kept training. Her decision is also tied to the personal fallout that pushed her out of sports in the first place. Cross has alleged sexual harassment by a transgender athlete in a girls’ locker room, an accusation the ACLU disputes and says the school district found unsubstantiated. Cross and her family say they never received meaningful follow-up from the district, and her attorneys say she ultimately abandoned the sport because of the experience. Cross has also described a hostile aftermath at school, including losing friends, being told by a teacher she was viewed as “less of a person,” and facing threats from a small group of students. She says the episode cost her not only training time but also the sense of safety, support and normal school life that would make a return possible. So while the court ruling changed the legal landscape, Cross says it did not undo the competitive disadvantage, emotional strain and social damage that, in her view, ended her athletic career.

1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 11

Adaleia Cross said in a viral interview that a teacher told her she was "less of a person" and that she lost longtime friends after speaking out about alleged locker-room harassment by a trans athlete.
Cross and her family say the alleged harassment happened during the 2022-23 school year, when she was in eighth grade, and that the school never told them the outcome of any investigation after they filed a report.
The ACLU, representing the athlete, has said the allegations were denied and deemed unsubstantiated by the school district; Cross's lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom say she has repeated the claims under oath.
The dispute sits in the wake of the Supreme Court's June 30 ruling allowing schools to limit girls' sports by biological sex, but Cross said she still will not return to competition as a senior after 2 years away.