Two female high school athletes have come forward accusing a transgender student — currently at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case over trans participation in girls’ sports — of aggressive sexual harassment and intimidation, according to a report.
Adaleia Cross, a student at Bridgeport High School in West Virginia, said the transgender athlete, who was born a biological male, made uncomfortable and sexually explicit comments to her in the girls’ locker room that amounted to sexual harassment, Fox News reported. Cross said she ultimately quit the track and field team after the trans student entered high school, citing disturbing remarks allegedly made during the 2022‑2023 school year when she was in eighth grade and the other student was in seventh grade at Bridgeport Middle School.
“When Adaleia first told us, she told us that [the trans athlete] was telling her and other girls ‘suck my d–k,’” Adaleia’s mother, Abby Cross, told Fox News. She added that the trans student allegedly made other explicit threats to Adaleia.
The transgender student initially brought a lawsuit against the state in 2021 at age 11 and successfully blocked a West Virginia law that would have prohibited biological males from competing in girls’ sports. The student, who has identified as female since the third grade, is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and more than 130 congressional Democrats have signed an amicus brief supporting the student as the Supreme Court prepares to review the case.
The ACLU denied the Cross family’s allegations and said school officials found the claims “unsubstantiated” after the family reported them. “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,” the organization said in a statement to Fox.
Another female athlete, Lincoln Middle School runner Emmy Salerno, said the same student used “intimidation tactics” against her after she refused to compete against them in a spring 2024 event when both were in eighth grade. After Salerno and four other girls declined to compete against the trans student in the girls’ shot put, their team was disqualified.
“After we stepped out, it was an immediate personality change. He didn’t want to talk to me. He just wanted to stare at me, and just stare down,” Salerno told Fox News. She said the student even posted a photo of her on Snapchat with the caption, “Reminder that she has more testosterone than me.”
Salerno also said she was afraid the trans athlete would “fight” her after the student followed her at a local basketball game one night. “I’ve always tried to avoid him everywhere I went,” she added.
The ACLU has not responded to Salerno’s allegations.
An appeals court upheld the decision to block the West Virginia law in April 2024, but in July the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the case. Oral arguments are scheduled to begin on January 13.
