University of Wyoming sorority sisters say they ‘live in fear’ of trans member
A group of University of Wyoming sorority sisters who are suing their sorority for accepting a transgender woman into their group have broken cover to describe how they “live in constant fear in our home” — after the hulking student has become physically aroused around them.
The seven women from the Kappa Kappa Gamma house have filed a lawsuit against the national sorority organization, its national council president and Artemis Langford, 21, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound trans student who joined their chapter in September 2022.
Langford — referred to under the male pseudonym Terry Smith in the suit — has been living outside the sorority house and was expected to move in the coming year, according to Cowboy State Daily.
However, the student, who is referred to as “he” and “him” in the suit, still often stays for meals and attends events with the women, their attorney told Megyn Kelly on her podcast Monday.
“It’s a weird, gut-wrenching feeling that every time I leave my room there’s a possibility that I’ll walk past him in the hall,” one of the sorority sisters, Hannah, told Kelly.
“It’s a weird feeling just to know that I could run into him anytime … (he has) full access to the house. But this just goes to show like we need women’s spaces for that reason,” she continued.
“Like our house is our home. Just like anyone else’s home, like, you go home at the end of the day to feel comfortable and relaxed in your own skin. And you can’t do that knowing that this individual has full access to your house.”
Another student said the situation is particularly distressing because some of her sisters have been “sexually assaulted or sexually harassed” and want to feel safe inside the home.
“So some girls live in constant fear in their home and our home is supposed to be a safe space,” said the young woman, who, like the other students, was not identified by name.
“It is seriously an only-female space. It is so different than living in the dorms, for instance, where men and women can commingle on the floors. That is not the case in a sorority house. We share just a couple of main bathrooms on the upstairs floor,” she said.
The lawsuit alleges that Langford stared at the women 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.
In another disturbing incident, the lawsuit alleges Langford has even become physically aroused.
“Mr. Smith has, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection visible through his leggings,” the suit says. “Other times, he has had a pillow in his lap.”
Craven told Kelly that “there has been an exemption granted for him for his safety, but not for these young women.”
“That individual still comes to the house, still engages in dinner, still sits in the chair and watches the girls,” the attorney said.
One of the students said she almost decided to leave the sorority because of the issue.
“But I reconnected with fellow sisters and alumni and I realized how important this organization is to me and to everybody else. And I refuse to allow subverting my rights as a woman to cater towards the comfort of a man. I will not let him take these opportunities away from me,” she said.
While Craven said that trans students need “their own spaces” and “deserve to be safe and protected,” it shouldn’t come at a cost to female students.
“It’s so obvious. It’s so biologically fundamental to the core. And we can’t allow, well, culture to be the arbiter of what sisterhood is. It’s a shared experience and it’s growth and it’s development and this experience is not doing this individual any justice whatsoever. So that’s where I think the left gets it wrong,” the attorney said.
The plaintiffs allege the national Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, its national council president and Langford all pressured the local chapter to breach sorority rules.
They 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.
Kari Kittrell Poole, the executive director of the sorority, has told the Associated Press that the lawsuit “contains numerous false allegations,” without specifying them.
She added that the sorority does not discriminate against gender identity.
The women are asking a judge to void Langford’s membership and to award unspecified damages.
The Post has reached out to the University of Wyoming and Kappa Kappa Gamma for comment.
