Members sue sorority, claim 'peeping' trans woman with 'visible erection' allowed to live with them
LARAMIE, Wyo. (TND) — Seven members of a sorority at the University of Wyoming are reportedly suing over their local chapter's admission of a transgender woman, whose actions allegedly make residents of the house uncomfortable.
Those women, who are part of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, allege in their lawsuit that the transgender woman engaged in voyeuristic behavior, according to the Associated Press.
Identified only by the pseudonym “Terry Smith” in the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, the trans woman allegedly would sit in the sorority's common room and stare at the women for hours.
Other publications, such as Newsweek and "Cowboy State Daily," have identified the trans woman as "Artemis Langford."
Court records also reveal that the sorority sisters allege "Smith", or Langford, has been "voyeuristically peeping on them while they were in intimate situations," and in one case "had a visible erection while doing so," according to the publication Reduxx.
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 claims, according to the AP.
The lawsuit reportedly seeks for a judge to declare the Langford's sorority membership void and to award the women unspecified damages from the sorority, who the women claim pressured their local chapter into violating sorority rules to induct the Langford in.
Langford, who is a 21-year-old, only "lives" in the sorority house in that they are permitted to spend time there amongst the other sorority sisters, according to the lawsuit. Langford has other living arrangements at the moment but reportedly plans to move into the sorority house in the fall.
"Smith," as Langford is referred to in the litigation, is six feet, two inches tall and weighs 260 pounds according to the lawsuit, which also warns that "Smith" is alleged to be "sexually interested in women" and that "no other member of Kappa Kappa Gamma has comparable size or strength."
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, according to the AP.
The lawsuit also reportedly alleges that Langford "repeatedly questioned the women about what vaginas look like, breast cup size, whether women were considering breast reductions and birth control."
Kappa Kappa Gamma Executive Director Kari Kittrell Poole reportedly told the AP that the lawsuit "contains numerous false allegations" but added that the sorority could not comment in detail on what those falsifications were. Poole reportedly added that the sorority doesn't discriminate based on gender identity.
In October, the University of Wyoming's newspaper "The Branding Iron" reported that "Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) is the first sorority in the University of Wyoming’s history to accept an open-transgender student into their ranks." in Oct. 2022.
Langford, a contributor to the paper, gave an interview for the sorority's accolade at the time.
I feel so glad to be in a place that I think not only shares my values, but to be in a sisterhood of awesome women that want to make history," Langford told The Branding Iron. "They want to break the glass ceiling, trailblazing you know, and I certainly feel that as their first trans member, at least in the chapter in Wyoming history."
The National Desk has reached out to both the University of Wyoming and Kappa Kappa Gamma regarding the lawsuit.
The University of Wyoming told TND that "The university has no comment on this matter, as it is an issue internal to the sorority, which determines its own membership."
Kappa Kappa Gamma has yet to respond, but once a response is attained it will be added to this article.
