Female students sue University of Wyoming for admitting trans woman into their sorority house

Seven sorority sisters have sued the University of Wyoming for admitting a transgender woman into their house over claims she voyeuristically peeped at them while visibly aroused.

The women, who were not named in the lawsuit, have sued the school, as well as their transgender sorority sister Artemis Langford, 21, who joined their chapter in September 2022. 

Langford, who is 6’2″ and weighs 260lbs, will be moving into the Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) house alongside 50 other women. Although the 21-year-old currently lives outside of the home, the girls say she is often in their sorority house watching them and they have caught her on at least one occasion with an erection. 

‘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, which refers to Langford under the male pseudonym Terry Smith, said. 

‘The Fraternity Council has betrayed the central purpose and mission of Kappa Kappa Gamma by conflating the experience of being a woman with the experience of men engaging in behavior generally associated with women,’ the suit, viewed by Cowboy State Daily, said. 

However, the Executive Director of the sorority, Kari Kittrell Poole, told the Associated Press that the lawsuit ‘contains numerous false allegations,’ but the sorority couldn’t comment in detail. KKG does not discriminate based on factors including gender identity, she added. 

The lawsuit also alleged that ‘Mr. Smith [Langford] has, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection visible through his leggings. Other times, he has had a pillow in his lap.’ 

They also accused her of taking photos of them at a slumber party and to have made inappropriate comments to them. 

‘Smith repeatedly questioned the women about what vaginas look like, breast cup size, whether women were considering breast reductions and birth control,’ the complaint said. 

Langford was reportedly supposed to leave the party by 10pm but stayed until midnight. Then, upon returning the next morning, reportedly stood in the corner watching the other girls change out of their pajamas. 

One of the women claimed she didn’t know her sorority sister had returned to the residence and had changed out of her pajama top without a bra on and when she turned around she found Langford staring at her, the complaint alleged. 

Fellow sisters reportedly later revealed to her that Langford had ‘his hands over his genitals’ and appeared sexually aroused. 

‘Since that event, Mr. Smith [Langford] has repeatedly asked [the woman] about her romantic attachments,’ the lawsuit read. 

The women also claimed that Langford is attracted to women, which they say is evident on her Tinder profile ‘through which he seeks to meet women.’ 

Another alleged she watched her walked down the hallway in a towel and that she sat at the back of the room during a group yoga class in December and ‘watched the assembled young women flex their bodies,’ the lawsuit said. 

It also alleged that Smith, who identifies with female pronouns on Twitter, wears women’s clothing ‘only occasionally,’ has not undergone medical gender transition.

She also identifies as male on a Washington State driver’s license even though she legally could have identified on it as female or ‘X’ gender, the lawsuit alleges. 

‘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 says.

The women are also saying that many felt ‘intimidated’ into inducting Langford into the sorority because their voting process, which promises anonymity, failed to do so. They were asked to fill out a Google form which asked them to identify themselves.  

In addition, while inducting Smith, the sorority improperly relied not on official bylaws but a 2018 ‘Guide for Supporting Our LGBTQIA+ Members’ that says Kappa Kappa Gamma is a ‘single-gender’ organization that admits both ‘women’ and ‘individuals who identify as women,’ the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit against the national Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, its national council president and Langford claimed national sorority officials pressured the local chapter to violate sorority rules, including those for voting to induct new members.  

‘If you vote no, it better be for issues with that new member or else it’s homophobic,’ one member said. The women accused their leadership of disregarding their concerns about a biological male living in the house. 

‘If you have something to say about this that isn’t kind or respectful, keep it to yourself,’ one of the women said they were told.  

The lawsuit asks for a judge to declare Smith’s sorority membership void and to award unspecified damages. The damages should reflect the local chapter’s decline in financial stability and donations because of Smith’s induction last fall, the lawsuit alleges. 

The University of Wyoming campus in Laramie has a long history of wrangling with LGBTQ+ issues since the murder of gay freshman Matthew Shepard in 1998 heightened attention to them nationwide. Wyoming, along with South Carolina, is one of just two states that has not yet adopted a hate-crimes law since Shepard’s murder.

Republican Governor Mark Gordon recently allowed a ban on transgender athletes in precollege interscholastic athletics to become law without his signature.

Letting transgender women access some female-only spaces has become a hot-button issue.

Some have warned that biological women should not be expected to share prisons, rape shelters, bathrooms or changing facilities with trans women who haven’t undergone gender reassignment surgery.

But supporters of the community say trans women are already vulnerable, and that it is unfair to persecute the vast majority who just want to live their lives in peace because of the actions of a few bad apples.