I’m One Of The Girls Title IX Was Meant To Protect

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear a case about trans-identifying boys participating in girls’ sports. A West Virginia law is at the center of the hearing.

The Daily Wire has been at the forefront of the battle over gender ideology. Exhibit A: Matt Walsh’s groundbreaking documentary What Is A Woman?

It’s one thing for an adult to fight the good fight and entirely another for an eighth-grade girl to take a stand.

They say this case will affect laws in 27 states. But it’s already directly affected the life of one young girl in West Virginia.

Here she is in her own words. — Joel Kneedler

* * *

Eighth grade. The year when most girls are making core memories with friends and preparing for that exciting, albeit scary, transition to high school. But for me, that year was frustrating and uncomfortable.

As a young female athlete, I lost out on the opportunity to compete in West Virginia’s Mid-Mountain Championship track-and-field meet and had to endure sexually harassing comments from a male athlete who was allowed to join the girls’ team at my middle school.

Now, I’m 17 years old and eagerly looking to the U.S. Supreme Court as it hears — for the first time — why it should protect female athletes and affirm the biological reality that boys and girls are different.

Credit: Adaleia Cross.

The Court is considering two cases: one being litigated by Attorney General JB McCuskey of my home state of West Virginia and another led by Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador. Both states are joined by legal counsel from Alliance Defending Freedom, which has represented me in other cases. These states enacted laws to restore common sense, fairness, and safety in women’s sports. Shortly afterward, however, activists who believe that boys should be able to compete against girls challenged both laws. The lawsuit in my state was brought on behalf of the male athlete competing on my girls’ track-and-field team.

That athlete displaced 423 different girls 1,100 times and took 57 medals from them. Those young women will never get those opportunities back. And that’s just one athlete. Other girls and women across the country, from middle school to college to the Olympics, continue to tell their stories of bravely choosing to forfeit games or matches in defense of biological truth. Or they talk about the heartache of losing to males who take roster spots and stand on winner podiums meant for girls.

Until April 2023, I was in the top three on my team for discus in both seventh and eighth grade. I was usually in the top three or four for shot put as well. But that changed when the male started beating me.

It felt strange to be kicked out of my events because I had always gotten to compete before. I felt angry and discouraged that a male athlete took my spot. But I also felt like I couldn’t say anything about it. If I complained, I was made to feel like the problem for feeling uncomfortable and recognizing the unfairness. I felt like I had to suck it up and live with it. I felt unheard and unseen.

It’s extremely frustrating to know that no matter how hard I work, I will not be able to throw farther than the male athlete. Being excluded from a competition before it even begins is discouraging; I am obviously not as strong and athletic as most boys my age. It makes me so angry that I do not even have a chance to win. I want to scream, “Why am I even here?”

In fact, I’ve decided not to compete in track and field in high school because of the male athletes’ participation.

It’s frustrating that I have to give up the sport I love — and excel at — because school officials have allowed males to compete with the girls. A male’s belief about his gender doesn’t erase the physical advantages over females.

Losing opportunities to compete at higher levels is very frustrating, but even worse was having to endure the athlete’s sexual, vulgar comments directed at me. Not to mention having to share a locker room. No girl should be forced to change in front of a boy or share such intimate spaces with the opposite sex.

In sports, biology matters. In life, it does too.

Gender ideology is full of lies that hurt real people. Believing that a male can erase physical differences with drugs impacts so much more than just girls’ sports. Women deserve their own spaces. Men don’t belong in women’s showers, restrooms, locker rooms, overnight school trips, prisons, or shelters.

All this weighs heavily on my heart, not just for me, but for my little sister, who is an incredible athlete.

Credit: Adaleia Cross.

It’s not true that a man can be a woman. If we want a society that respects women, we must accept that reality. Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women. We can’t go backward.

I may only be one voice from West Virginia, but I know I stand on the shoulders of trailblazers who have championed women’s rights for years. And today, I join a new chorus of women — we’re young and paying attention. We’re also grateful for this incredible opportunity to ask the Supreme Court to listen to our stories and allow states to defend biological reality, fairness, and female athletes.

 * * *

Adaleia Cross is a West Virginia high school student.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

* * *

WATCH: Matt Walsh’s “What Is A Woman?” on DailyWire+