Longtime sorority alumni booted after supporting lawsuit challenging admission of trans man
Two alumni have been expelled from Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at the University of Wyoming, allegedly for supporting a lawsuit challenging the admission of a trans man into the all-female…
Two alumni have been expelled from Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at the University of Wyoming, allegedly for supporting a lawsuit challenging the admission of a trans man into the all-female organization.
Patsy Levang and Cheryl Tuck-Smith, both of whom have been members of the KKG sorority for over 50 years, raised money for the lawsuit that sought to bar biological male Artemis Langford from membership in the sorority, writes the Daily Mail.
They accused Langford of being a sexual predator, said the UK newspaper.
The women’s ouster comes after a federal judge forced the lawsuit’s plaintiffs to identify themselves. Previously, the plaintiffs had filed the lawsuit anonymously, citing safety and privacy concerns, according to the local Rocket Miner.
“The sensitive facts involved in this case, as well as the strong likelihood that the nature of this lawsuit will result in threats and harassment from third parties against individual students and their families, merit this Court’s approval,” the plaintiff’s attorneys wrote the court about the request for anonymity in the case.
In August, a judge dismissed the case, reported the National Review. That’s when the reprisals started.
Levang and Tuck-Smith, while not actual plaintiffs in the lawsuit, solicited money from other alumni to help pay for the case, according to the National Review. Those solicitations apparently triggered complaints from some alumni to the national chapter of KKG, which resulted in a vote to oust the two members.
National Review obtained a letter from KKG informing the pair of their ouster, alleging that Levang and Tuck-Smith used contact information from alumni improperly to raise money for the case.
“Your use of member contact information to solicit donations to fund litigation against Kappa is a clear violation of Kappa’s policy,” KKG standards director Jessica Coffield wrote Levang and Tuck-Smith.
The group that led the legal fight against Langford’s admission to the sorority, Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), said the dismissals of Levang and Tuck-Smith were simply retaliation for daring to stand up against the diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI) of KKG.
“I was hurt when I was terminated as a member of KKG, but also disturbed that KKG has become a political tool rather than an organization that promotes women,” Tuck-Smith said in a statement released by IWF. “My dismissal simply spurs me on to educate others about the dangers of DEI which in reality does not support diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Levang added that while she was “saddened” by the vote to oust her, she won’t be “quiet about the truth” behind DEI.
IWF said the council members who voted to expel Levang and Tuck-Smith should instead revoke their own memberships because they no longer uphold KKG’s original values.
“Kappa claims to value honesty and to embrace differences. But once it heard honesty it did not like, Kappa shattered every sorority and American value to silence these alumnae,” said May Mailman, senior fellow at Independent Women’s Law Center. “Instead of punishing dedicated and caring sisters, Kappa leadership should revoke their own memberships, as they are the only ones in violation of Kappa’s bylaws.”
IWF is appealing the dismissal of the lawsuit to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mailman called the trial court’s dismissal of the case “ridiculous,” saying the judge’s claim that the sorority founders’ definition of “women” could include a biological male “mocks Kappa’s founders, today’s young women, and common sense.”
