Fox News Radio anchor Tonya J. Powers joins to discuss the dismissal of the suit over the admission of Artemis Langford, a transgender woman, to Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming and what this could mean in the future.
The case started in 2022, when a couple sisters from the sorority anonymously sued Kappa Kappa Gamma for inducting Langford, alleging that they were pursuing an ideological agenda when they inducted her. The case was filed in March, saying that Kappa Kappa Gamma is a "female only" sorority.
In the dismissal document filed yesterday, Judge Alan Johnson wrote that "With its inquiry beginning and ending there, the Court will not define "woman" today" and that "The delegate of a private, voluntary organization interpreted "woman", otherwise undefined in the nonprofit's bylaws, expansively; this Judge may not invade Kappa Kappa Gamma's freedom of expressive association and inject the circumscribed definition Plaintiffs urge"
Mrs. Powers stated that "Last year, again, remember, the whole sorority voted to allow this person to join. You don't get into a sorority unless everybody says, yes, this is a good idea. We're going to take a vote. And that had happened. This person had been allowed in, and then that's when the lawsuit came from the six sorority sisters. And this ruling basically, this judge, federal Judge Alan Johnson, said, sorority by laws don't define who's a woman. Therefore, because the sorority bylaws, they don't spell out the definition of who is a woman and who isn't, he couldn't, you know, you've broken the law or anything, or, this is not okay because there's no definition in the first place under this, because, as he pointed out, it's a private, voluntary organization."
Before the case was dismissed, Langford moved to dismiss herself, as despite the case claiming her behavior was improper, the case was over her admission and not her, with Judge Johnson saying "The crux of Plaintiffs' lawsuit is their derivative claim against Rooney and contractual claims against KKG. Unbefitting in federal court, Langford's unsubstantiated behavior at the UW chapter house has no bearing on Plaintiffs' legal claims. The Court, however, acknowledges that Plaintiffs' requested relief seeks to void Langford's KKG membership." The complaints were over allegedly trying to take photos covertly, sending a blacklist to the head organization containing "the names of women he believes are transphobic and should be expelled from Kappa Kappa Gamma."
The judge added that the plaintiffs, if they want to retry the case, they should clear information up, devote more than "6% of their complaint to their legal claims against Defendants", and not "copy and paste their complaint in lieu of elaboration or legal research that assists the Court in disentangling their claims." when "provided another opportunity to clarify unclear language within an amended complaint"