Two veteran members of a sorority at the University of Wyoming have been expelled after expressing disapproval towards the admission of a trans-identified male to the sisterhood. Patsy Levang and Cheryl Tuck-Smith had been alumni members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority for over 50 years, but have now been removed in apparent retaliation for advocating that membership be restricted to females only.
According to a press release issued by the Independent Women’s Forum, Levang and Tuck-Smith were voted out by the sorority’s national leadership on November 9. Levang had been the past Kappa Kappa Gamma National Foundation President, while Tuck-Smith was an active contributor and organizer.
The women’s removal came after they had been vocally opposed to the admission of a trans-identified male to the KKG chapter at the University of Wyoming, and had supported a lawsuit launched by members of that sorority to have Dallin “Artemis” Langford removed.
Langford, who began identifying as a “lesbian” in 2017, first became the subject of international attention earlier this year after multiple female KKG members launched a lawsuit against the national governing body of their sorority demanding his membership be revoked.
Although Langford had required a majority vote to gain admission to the KKG house at the University, one sorority sister revealed that the female members were initially promised anonymity in the voting process only to be told they would have to identify themselves on the ballot form at the last minute. This resulted in many of the women feeling “intimidated” into voting for Langford to avoid accusations of “transphobia.”
As previously reported by Reduxx, the female KKG members involved in the lawsuit noted that there had been several disturbing instances of inappropriate behavior from Langford following his admission.
Court records revealed that the young women alleged Langford, who is 6’2″, had been voyeuristically peeping on them while they were in intimate situations, and, on at least one occasion, had a visible erection while doing so.
“One sorority member walked down the hall to take a shower, wearing only a towel … She felt an unsettling presence, turned, and saw [Langford] watching her silently,” one court document, which had anonymized Langford, reads.
“[Langford] 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.”
The complaint added that Langford was “sexually interested in women” as evidenced by his Tinder profile “through which he seeks to meet women.” It was further alleged that Langford took photographs of the women while at a sorority slumber party, where he also is said to have asked the women uncomfortable questions about female genitalia.
The day after the slumber party, it was reported that Langford stood silently in the corner of the room while watching other pledges change out of their sleeping garments.
The lawsuit also highlighted a disturbing incident involving one of the women as she changed her clothing.
Unaware that Langford was in the house, she faced away from the other members and removed her shirt in a communal area. The woman, who was not wearing a bra, turned to discover Langford staring at her after she had put on a clean shirt.
Curiously, court documents also reveal that Langford was admitted to KKG despite not even meeting their basic academic eligibility requirements.
While KKG requires applicants to have a 2.7 Grade Point Average (GPA), Langford only had a 1.9 at the time he submitted his membership request, and was not on a grade probation. The legal complaint notes that this indicates Langford’s application was “evaluated using a different standard.”
Despite expressing overwhelming discomfort with Langford’s admission to the sorority, on August 25, Judge Alan Johnson dismissed the case of Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, claiming that re-defining “woman” to include males was “Kappa Kappa Gamma’s bedrock right as a private, voluntary organization — and one this Court may not invade.”
In his decision, Johnson wrote: “The University of Wyoming chapter voted to admit — and, more broadly, a sorority of hundreds of thousands approved — Langford. With its inquiry beginning and ending there, the Court will not define ‘woman’ today. The delegate of a private, voluntary organization interpreted ‘woman’, otherwise undefined in the non-profit’s bylaws, expansively; this Judge may not invade Kappa Kappa Gamma’s freedom of expressive association and inject the circumscribed definition Plaintiffs urge.”
While the KKG bylaws state that “a new member shall be a woman,” Judge Johnson found that no bylaw defined “woman.” Johnson also cited a 2018 Guide for Supporting our LGBTQIA+ Members which states: “Kappa Kappa Gamma is a single-gender organization comprised of women and individuals who identify as women whose governing documents do not discriminate in membership selection except by requiring good scholarship and ethical character.”
Though the female complainants have expressed a desire to appeal the decision, there have been reports that KKG administrators are attempting to bar the young women from doing so.
Since news of the lawsuit first became widely circulated, Langford has received ample sympathetic coverage in mainstream media, with one MSNBC host labeling him “brave and unique.” In a recent profile by the Washington Post, Langford was given a platform to accuse the sorority sisters involved in the suit of lying while being compared to women who had historically been denied the right to a basic education.
In a statement provided to the Independent Women’s Forum, now-expelled member Cheryl Tuck-Smith said that she was hurt when she discovered she would be terminated as a member of KKG.
“[I’m also] disturbed that KKG has become a political tool rather than an organization that promotes women. My dismissal simply spurs me on to educate others about the dangers of DEI which in reality does not support diversity, equity and inclusion,” she said.
Patsy Levang similarly conveyed disappointment, but added “I will not be quiet about the truth.”
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