'Peeping' trans student to stay in sorority after judge dismisses lawsuit

Thanks to a federal judge, a transgender-identifying man is allowed to remain in a Wyoming sorority chapter despite accusations that he had been “voyeuristically peeping” at female members during “intimate situations” in their sorority house.

On Aug. 25, Judge Alan Johnson dismissed a lawsuit that seven Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) members at the University of Wyoming (UW) filed against the national sorority in response to the admission of Artemis Langford, a 21-year-old man who claims to be a woman.  

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The lawsuit, filed in March, alleged that KKG’s admission of Artemis Langford was in violation of its corporate charter and bylaws. 

“Under the Sorority’s Bylaws, every new member must be ‘a woman,’” reads the lawsuit. “A woman is an adult human female. An adult human male is not a woman, no matter how he chooses to describe himself.”

Judge Johnson, however, stressed freedom of association and the private nature of the sorority’s decision to admit a transgender-identifying man when dismissing the plaintiff’s case.

”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,” Johnson stated.

”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,” he continued.

The plaintiffs had especially taken issue with Langford’s conduct in the sorority house.

As previously reported by Campus Reform, the lawsuit claimed that Langford had watched a sorority member change and became sexually aroused to the point of having to cover his genitals. 

Langford is also accused of having “an erection visible through his leggings” while watching other sorority women. 

“Kappa Kappa Gamma applauds the court’s ruling in Wyoming upholding a private organization’s right to choose their members,” the national sorority told Campus Reform in an emailed statement. “We look forward to moving past this lawsuit so we can continue the important work being done every day on behalf of all of our members.” 

Gabe Saint, President of Turning Point USA at UW, told Campus Reform that “[t]he more our society fails to define what a woman is, the more we will see things like this happen.”

“The girls in the sorority are in a tough place. Many do not feel comfortable, many are scared to speak out, and a lot have dropped the sorority,” said Saint. “It is absolutely wrong for a man to invade any women’s space. The values of the great state of Wyoming do not reflect this.”

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“I am not surprised about the outcome of the case,” he added, emphasizing that he and TPUSA UW have been “extremely involved in this affair.”

In an appearance on America Reports in May, transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner said of the situation: “If you look at those pictures, what I have to say is, he is a perverted, sexually deviant male. I’m sorry, Artemis Langford, you are not a woman and you do not belong in women’s spaces.”

UW Associate Vice President of Communications Chad Baldwin told Campus Reform that since the school was not a party in the lawsuit, it has “no comment.”

Best efforts were made to contact Langford. This article will be updated accordingly.

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