A boy beat me in track and sexually harassed me. Biden thinks I’m the problem

Biden thinks his Title IX changes are positive, but I've lived what they will mean. A boy beat me in track, shared the same locker room and sexually harassed me. I couldn't stop it.

I eventually told my parents about the sexual harassment, and we reported it to my school administrators. But the school did nothing to change things or help me.  Adaleia Cross is a 15-year-old student in West Virginia. 

To make matters even worse, I started losing to BPJ, repeatedly. Everyone knows boys are naturally bigger, stronger and more muscular than girls. It’s scientifically clear. That’s why there are girls-only categories in sports.  On the track team, I competed in shotput, discus, pole vault, the 100m dash, and the 4x100. I also filled in wherever they needed me. I loved it.  But things kept getting worse. In April 2023, BPJ completely knocked me out of one of the competitions for the throwing events, which I had been competing in for two seasons. For most meets, the athletes with the three best personal records compete in each championship event. Previously, BPJ had already replaced me in the shotput top three. I was still in the top three for discus — until the Mid-Mountain 10 meet toward the end of the season.  The whole season, BPJ had been physically changing — getting taller, shoulders broadening, voice getting deeper, as a male hitting puberty does. My coach pulled me aside before the Mid-Mountain 10 meet and informed me I had been knocked out of throwing in the competition. BPJ, a male almost two years younger than me, had officially replaced me, a female on the girls’ throwing team, in the meet. 

On top of all of that, BPJ rubbed it in my face. He made me feel inferior. He trash-talked me for throwing shorter than him. It wasn’t enough to unfairly take my place. He had to belittle me.  Now the federal government is trying to re-write Title IX — the law that gave women equal opportunity in education and athletics — to erase protections for women and girls. This change would require schools to allow males who identify as females to share our locker rooms, bathrooms, showers, and, inevitably, our sports teams. So, what happened to me isn’t going to be an isolated event. It could happen to girls across the country.