A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by Kappa Kappa Gamma members seeking to block transgender woman Artemis Langford from a University of Wyoming chapter. Plaintiffs alleged procedural irregularities and argued that Kappa's governing documents limited membership to those assigned female at birth. The judge rejected claims of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract, and previously ruled that federal courts could not intrude on a private organization's expressive association rights. The judge found Kappa's bylaws did not define "woman" and noted national leadership had long clarified that the organization includes transgender women.
For almost three years, a University of Wyoming sorority has been the unlikely epicenter of a national battle over belonging. U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson's 35-page ruling not only rejected the plaintiffs' claims of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract, but also declared that Kappa, as a private nonprofit, has the right to define "woman" on its own terms. "In short, we are required to leave Kappa alone," Johnson wrote.
The lawsuit began in March 2023, when seven sorority members claimed Langford's admission violated Kappa's governing documents. They alleged procedural irregularities, from late notice of a vote to the use of a Google form instead of the official sorority software, and insisted the word "woman" could only mean those assigned female at birth. That argument failed once before. Johnson dismissed the original case in August 2023, ruling that federal courts could not interfere with a sorority's expressive right to include transgender women.
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