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.
“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.
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.
With Post wires
