Students sue University Of Wyoming sorority for accepting transgender member
By Nika Shakhnazarova - New York Post
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A group of female students is suing the University of Wyoming after it accepted a transgender woman into their sorority, according to a report.
Seven sorority sisters from the Kappa Kappa Gamma house claim they were made uncomfortable by the new admittee on several occasions, a lawsuit obtained by the Associated Press alleges.
The women, who were not named in the suit, have sued the university, as well as new member Artemis Langford, 21, who joined their chapter in Sept. 2022.
The lawsuit alleges that the women felt uneasy by Langford — referred to under the male pseudonym Terry Smith in the suit — after she allegedly stared at them without talking for hours.
“One sorority member walked down the hall to take a shower, wearing only a towel. She felt an unsettling presence, turned, and saw Mr. Smith watching her silently,” the lawsuit alleges.
The plaintiffs allege the national Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, the sorority’s national council president, and the new member all pressured the local chapter to breach sorority rules.
The women said they felt “intimidated” to induct Langford into the house.
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“An adult human male does not become a woman just because he tells others that he has a female ‘gender identity’ and behaves in what he believes to be a stereotypically female manner,” the lawsuit, seen by Cowboy State Daily, claims.
However, the women’s claims have been shut down by Kari Kittrell Poole, the Executive Director of the sorority.
Poole told the Associated Press that the lawsuit “contains numerous false allegations,” without specifying the said allegations.
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She added that the sorority does not discriminate against gender identity.
The lawsuit also alleged that Langford behaved inappropriately around her sorority sisters on numerous occasions, including once when she “had an erection visible through his leggings,” the suit alleges.
“Other times, he has had a pillow in his lap,” the lawsuit adds. “Smith [Langford] repeatedly questioned the women about what vaginas look like, breast cup size, whether women were considering breast reductions and birth control.”
The plaintiffs also alleged that the sorority ignored official bylaws when inducting Langford, and instead referred to a 2018 “Guide for Supporting Our LGBTQIA+ Members” that says Kappa Kappa Gamma is a “single-gender” organization.
The guide notes that the sorority accepts both “women” and “individuals who identify as women,” the suit alleges.
The women are asking a judge to void Langford’s Kappa Kappa Gamma membership and to award unspecified damages.
The Post has reached out to the University of Wyoming and the university’s Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority for comment.
Univ. of Wyoming sorority sisters 'live in fear' of transgender member who silently stares at them while visibly aroused: lawsuit
By Yaron Steinbuch - New York Post
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A group of sorority sisters who are suing the University of Wyoming for accepting a transgender woman into their group have broken cover to describe how they “live in constant fear in our home” — after the hulking student has become physically aroused around them.
The seven women from the Kappa Kappa Gamma house have filed a lawsuit against the university and Artemis Langford, 21, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound trans student who joined their chapter in September 2022.
Langford — referred to under the male pseudonym Terry Smith in the suit — has been living outside the sorority house and was expected to move in the coming year, according to Cowboy State Daily.
However, the student, who is referred to as “he” and “him” in the suit, still often stays for meals and attends events with the women, their attorney told Megyn Kelly on her podcast Monday.
“It’s a weird, gut-wrenching feeling that every time I leave my room there’s a possibility that I’ll walk past him in the hall,” one of the sorority sisters, Hannah, told Kelly.
“It’s a weird feeling just to know that I could run into him anytime … (he has) full access to the house. But this just goes to show like we need women’s spaces for that reason,” she continued.
“Like our house is our home. Just like anyone else’s home, like you go home at the end of the day to feel comfortable and relaxed in your own skin. And you can’t do that knowing that this individual has full access to your house.”
Another student said the situation is particularly distressing because some of her sisters have been “sexually assaulted or sexually harassed” and want to feel safe inside the home.
“So some girls live in constant fear in their home and our home is supposed to be a safe space,” said the young woman, who, like the other students, was not identified by name.
“It is seriously an only-female space. It is so different than living in the dorms, for instance, where men and women can commingle on the floors. That is not the case in a sorority house. We share just a couple of main bathrooms on the upstairs floor,” she said.
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Langford has been living outside the sorority house and was expected to move in the coming year.
The lawsuit alleges that Langford stared at the women without talking for hours.
“One sorority member walked down the hall to take a shower, wearing only a towel. She felt an unsettling presence, turned, and saw Mr. Smith watching her silently,” the lawsuit alleges.
In another disturbing incident, the lawsuit alleges Langford has even become physically aroused.
“Mr. Smith has, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection visible through his leggings,” the suit says. “Other times, he has had a pillow in his lap.”
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Craven told Kelly that “there has been an exemption granted for him for his safety, but not for these young women.”
“That individual still comes to the house, still engages in dinner, still sits in the chair and watches the girls,” the attorney said.
One of the students said she almost decided to leave the sorority because of the issue.
“But I reconnected with fellow sisters and alumni and I realized how important this organization is to me and to everybody else. And I refuse to allow subverting my rights as a woman to cater towards the comfort of a man. I will not let him take these opportunities away from me,” she said.
While Craven said that trans students need “their own spaces” and “deserve to be safe and protected,” it shouldn’t come at a cost to female students.
“It’s so obvious. It’s so biologically fundamental to the core. And we can’t allow, well, culture to be the arbiter of what sisterhood is. It’s a shared experience and it’s growth and it’s development and this experience is not doing this individual any justice whatsoever. So that’s where I think the left gets it wrong,” the attorney said.
The plaintiffs allege the national Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, its national council president and Langford all pressured the local chapter to breach sorority rules.
They also alleged that the sorority ignored official bylaws when inducting Langford — and instead referred to a 2018 “Guide for Supporting Our LGBTQIA+ Members” that says Kappa Kappa Gamma is a “single-gender” organization.
Kari Kittrell Poole, the executive director of the sorority, has told the Associated Press that the lawsuit “contains numerous false allegations,” without specifying them.
She added that the sorority does not discriminate against gender identity.
The women are asking a judge to void Langford’s membership and to award unspecified damages.
The Post has reached out to the University of Wyoming and Kappa Kappa Gamma for comment.
Federal judge dismisses University of Wyoming students' lawsuit against trans sorority member
By Lindsay Kornick | Fox News
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University of Wyoming sorority members’ lawsuit for the inclusion of a transgender student in their organization was dismissed by a federal judge on Friday.
In March, several current and former members of the University of Wyoming’s Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sued the school to revoke the membership allowing what they described as "peeping" transgender student Artemis Langford. Despite the women’s descriptions of Langford’s alleged actions, the judge ruled that the school did not violate any policies by allowing the student to join.
"The University of Wyoming chapter voted to admit - and, more broadly, a sorority of hundreds of thousands approved - Langford. With its inquiry beginning and ending there, the Court will not define ‘woman’ today. The delegate of a private, voluntary organization interpreted ‘woman’, otherwise undefined in the nonprofit's bylaws, expansively; this Judge may not invade Kappa Kappa Gamma's freedom of expressive association and inject the circumscribed definition Plaintiffs urge," the judge said.
The ruling continued, "Holding that Plaintiffs fail to plausibly allege their derivative, breach of contract, tortious interference, and direct claims, the Court dismisses, without prejudice, Plaintiffs' causes of action."
The lawsuit brought by seven members of Kappa Kappa Gamma claimed that Langford violated university policies by joining a sorority despite not being a woman or making efforts to appear female.
"Langford states that he is transgender and that he self-identifies as a woman. His behavior, however, does not reflect a man living as a woman let alone a man attempting to ‘consistently live’ as a woman," the complaint said. "Other than occasionally wearing women's clothing, Langford makes little effort to resemble a woman. He has not undergone treatments to create a more feminine appearance, such as female hormones, feminization surgery, or laser hair removal. Plaintiffs often observe Langford with the facial hair one would expect on a man who either did not shave that morning or whose facial hair has regrown by the evening."
Additional court documents alleged other unacceptable behaviors such as "voyeuristically peeping on them while they were in intimate situations, and, in at least one occasion, had a visible erection while doing so."
Though multiple women took part in the lawsuit, the sorority itself filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in June.
"The central issue in this case is simple: do the plaintiffs have a legal right to be in a sorority that excludes transgender women? They do not," the motion read.
It added, "Plaintiffs request the Court to insert itself into this controversial political debate and declare that a private organization can only interpret the term ‘woman’ using Plaintiffs’ exclusionary definition of biologically born females."
When Langford was originally inducted into the sorority in 2022, reports noted that Kappa Kappa Gamma was "the first sorority in the University of Wyoming’s history to accept an open-transgender student into their ranks."
