A lawsuit filed by members of a sorority at the University of Wyoming to bar a transgender woman from joining has been dismissed by a judge — despite claims the students were “sexually predatory” who were physically aroused around them.
Since the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority’s bylaws do not define what a “woman” is, Wyoming US District Judge Alan Johnson ruled he could not proceed with the lawsuit and dismissed the matter on Friday, according to reports.
“With its inquiry beginning and ending there, the court will not define ‘woman’ today,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson ruled that a federal court could not interfere with the sorority’s freedom of association by ruling against its vote to induct trans student Artemis Langford last year.
“The University of Wyoming chapter voted to admit — and, more broadly, the group of hundreds of thousands who approved — Langford,” Johnson wrote in his decision.
The sorority members asked the judge to revoke Langford’s Kappa Kappa Gamma membership and award unspecified damages. Facebook / Kappa Kappa Gamma University of Wyoming
“Representatives of voluntary private organizations interpret ‘women,’ otherwise undefined in the bylaws of non-profit organizations, broadly; This judge cannot intrude on Kappa Kappa Gamma’s freedom of expressive association and inject the limited definition urged by Plaintiffs.”
Rachel Berkness, Langford’s lawyer, welcomed the court’s decision.
“The allegations against Ms. Langford should not make it into a legal filing,” Berkness said in an email to the Associated Press.
Judge Alan Johnson ruled he could not proceed with the lawsuit and dismissed the matter on Friday. Wyoming PBS/Youtube
“It is nothing more than a cruel rumor that reflects the kind of rumors that have been used to vilify and dehumanize members of the LGBTQIA+ community for generations. And they are baseless,” Berkness said in an email.
The case at Wyoming’s only public four-year university has gained national attention as ongoing issues involving transgender rights for students in school and athletics have sparked major debates across the country.
Six members of the university’s Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority filed a lawsuit in March against the national sorority organization, its national council president and Langford — who joined their chapter in September 2022.
Artemis Langford was admitted to the sorority in September 2022.Facebook / Artemis Langford
The sorority members asked the judge to revoke Langford’s Kappa Kappa Gamma membership and award unspecified damages.
Kari Kittrell Poole, the organization’s executive director, told the Associated Press in May that the lawsuit “contains many false allegations” without specifying.
He added that Kappa Kappa Gamma, which has more than 250,000 members in 140 chapters across the United States and Canada, does not discriminate against gender identity.
Kappa Kappa Gamma, which has more than 250,000 members in 140 chapters across the United States and Canada, says it does not discriminate against gender identity. Facebook / Kappa Kappa Gamma University of Wyoming
The suit alleges that members felt uncomfortable around Langford – identified under the male pseudonym Terry Smith in the suit – with one member allegedly witnessing Langford being physically aroused.
“Mr. Smith, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection that was visible through his leggings,” the suit alleges. “At another time, he had a pillow on his lap.”
Berkness shared that the allegations about his client’s behavior and being labeled a “sexual predator” were nothing more than “intoxicated hearsay” following the suit’s dismissal.
Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority members and their lawyers spoke to Meghan Kelly about the issue in May.YouTube / Megyn Kelly
The six members of the organization told Megyn Kelly on her podcast in May that they “lived in constant fear in our house” in the presence of Langford and that the trans student would stare at the woman without speaking for hours.
“It’s a women’s only space. It’s very different from living in a dorm, for example, where men and women can mix on the floor. That doesn’t happen in sorority houses. We share just a few master bathrooms upstairs,” one member, who did not want to be named, told Kelly.
Cassie Craven, an attorney representing the sorority’s sisters, said her client disagreed with the decision — and, more importantly, that the sorority’s chapter did not have a precise definition of who should be classified as a woman.
A lawyer representing the sisters of the organization said his client disagreed with the decision and will continue to fight for the rights of biological women. Instagram / @baileyy.jayne
“Women have a biological reality that deserves to be protected and recognized, and we will continue to fight for those rights just as women suffragists for decades have been told that their bodies, opinions and safety don’t matter,” Craven wrote in an email to the outlet.
It is unclear whether Kappa Kappa Gamma plans to change its bylaws to adequately define women for potential future issues.
With Postal wire
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
