Wyoming sorority appeals ruling requiring sisters to allow trans-identified males to be members

A sorority at the University of Wyoming is fighting to keep her sorority women-only after an appeals court ruled that the chapter must admit a man who said he's a woman as a sorority sister. A court dismissed the case in August, but the sorority chapter has filed an appeal. The trans-identified male a lower court ordered the group to admit was accused of peering at sorority sisters with "an erection visible through his leggings."

The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth District will hear arguments on Tuesday in the case, brought forth by six Kappa Kappa Gamma sisters who took issue with trans-identified male Artemis Langford being allowed in their chapter. The notice of appeal was filed in September. In August, the US District Court for Wyoming dismissed the case, with Judge Alan Johnson writing at the time, "Kappa Kappa Gamma’s bedrock right as a private, voluntary organization — and one this Court may not invade."

"The University of Wyoming chapter voted to admit — and, more broadly, a sorority of hundreds of thousands approved — Langford," Johnson said. "With its inquiry beginning and ending there, the Court will not define ‘woman’ today."

The lawsuit, filed in March 2023, stated that Langford is a fully intact male who claims to be a woman. Langford was not living at the house but was said to spend a lot of time there. The complaint noted that the bathrooms in the sorority house do not have locks on them. "Plaintiffs and other sorority members describe the second floor as a private, safe space where young women can interact without concern that they will be on display for men," the lawsuit stated.

Langford’s Tinder profile was noted to state that the trans-identified male was seeking to meet women. The girls alleged that Langford has had "visible erections through his leggings" and "repeatedly questions the women about what vaginas look like, breast cup size, whether women were considering breast reductions and birth control.’"

The lawsuit alleged that Langford has had "his hands over his genitals and appeared sexually aroused" in the presence of the sorority sisters, and has also "watched them undress" without them knowing Langford was in the room.

In the filing for the appeals court, attorneys for the six sisters argue that sorority leaders ignored the group’s bylaws in allowing transgender women to become members, according to the Daily Mail. Langford is not listed in the appeal, instead, listed as the defendants are the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and president Mary Pat Rooney.

In a brief filed in December, the sisters said that the "question at the heart of this case is the definition of 'woman,' a term that Kappa has used since 1870 to prescribe membership, in Kappa’s governing documents."

"Using any conceivable tool of contractual interpretation, the term refers to biological females. And yet, the district court avoided this inevitable conclusion by applying the wrong law and ignoring the factual assertions in the complaint."