Court tosses lawsuit from Wyoming students trying to bar transgender woman from sorority
Artemis Langford became University of Wyoming’s first trans member of Greek life last fall
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
A group of University of Wyoming sorority sisters can’t sue the Kappa Kappa Gamma organisation for admitting a transgender student named Artemis Langford, a federal judge ruled on Friday.
“The University of Wyoming chapter voted to admit — and, more broadly, a sorority of hundreds of thousands approved — Langford,” Judge Alan B Johnson wrote in his ruling. “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.”
In April, a groupd of six KKG members brought a lawsuit against the sorority, arguing it had violated the organisations bylaws and housing contracts by admitting Ms Langford, the first trans member of Greek life in U of W history.
"I’m grateful that it’s over and I can get back to being a student," Ms Langford told the Casper Star Tribune in a statement. "I’m grateful for everyone’s support – this has been a hard time. I hope this helps other students who are LGBTQ+ avoid the kind of scrutiny I’ve been under and we can be who we are."
The case became a cause célèbre on the right, with sorority members Jaylyn Westenbroek, Hannah Holtmeier, Allison Coghan, Grace Choate, Madeline Ramar and Megan Kosar, who initially tried to bring the lawsuit anonymously, appearing on right-wing outlets like Fox News.
“[W]e’re fighting for the importance of women’s spaces and what it truly means to be a woman. We were promised from the beginning that we would have a sisterhood, meaning only females, and our national sorority has failed us," Ms Westenbroek told the outlet earlier this year.
The sorority, meanwhile, argued that KKG had adopted a position in 2015 allowing those who identified as women to join the sorority.
The suit repeatedly misgendered Ms Langford, refering to her as a “man,” and alleging her attraction to women made her “threatening.”
In his ruling, Judge Johnson called much of the suit “unbeffiting in federal court” and used Ms Langford’s chosen pronouns.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments