Seven women are suing the Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) sorority after it was told to admit a male who identifies as transgender to the University of Wyoming (UW) chapter. Artemis Langford, 21, was accepted into KKG following a vote that was held after he submitted an admission form last September.
“I feel so glad to be in a place that I think not only shares my values, but to be in a sisterhood of awesome women that want to make history,” Langford told The Branding Iron, a local publication where he is also employed as a contributor, during an interview last year. “They want to break the glass ceiling, trailblazing you know, and I certainly feel that as their first trans member, at least in the chapter in Wyoming history.”
As a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Langford, who is 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs approximately 260 pounds, is allowed to live in the KKG house, which accommodates up to 50 women. Though he currently lives outside of the sorority house, he is set to move into the residence within the year, where he would have access to the shared shower facilities.
Doors to the communal showers do not lock, and the main bathroom located on the second floor is not equipped with a private changing area, reports Cowboy State Daily.
Though Langford resides elsewhere for the time being, women allege that he frequently sits in the second-floor common area, watching the women.
“An adult human male does not become a woman just because he tells others that he has a female ‘gender identity’ and behaves in what he believes to be a stereotypically female manner,” reads the legal complaint, filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming.
“The Fraternity Council has betrayed the central purpose and mission of Kappa Kappa Gamma by conflating the experience of being a woman with the experience of men engaging in behavior generally associated with women.”
The seven anonymous women, all of whom who are either current or previous members of the UW sorority chapter, filed the lawsuit on March 27 against the sorority and its council president, Mary Pat Rooney. Langford is referred to by the pseudonym “Terry Smith” in the legal documents, which uses male pronouns to address him. The plaintiffs are requesting that the court void Langford’s membership in KKG.
Court records reveal that the young women are alleging Langford had been voyeuristically peeping on them while they were in intimate situations, and, in 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 Mr. Smith watching her silently,” the court document reads.
“Mr. Smith 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 adds that Langford is “sexually interested in women” as evidenced by his Tinder profile “through which he seeks to meet women.” It is further alleged that Langford took photographs of the women while at a sorority slumber party, where he also is said to have made inappropriate comments.
“Smith repeatedly questioned the women about what vaginas look like, breast cup size, whether women were considering breast reductions and birth control,” the complaint alleges.
Langford “was supposed” to leave the slumber party by 10 p.m. that evening but did not, saying that he intended to leave after the women fell asleep. After singing to himself at approximately 11 p.m., Langford finally left the residence at midnight, only to return the next morning.
At that time, it is stated 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 had returned to the house, she faced away from the women and removed her shirt. The woman, who was not wearing a bra, turned to discover Langford staring at her after she had put on a clean shirt.
Some of the KKG members would later tell the woman that Langford had appeared sexually aroused during this incident. It was claimed that Langford stood with “his hands over his genitals,” and has since repeatedly questioned the woman about her “romantic attachments.”
Langford was also said to have sat in the back of a sorority yoga class for an hour in December 2022 “and watched the assembled young women flex their bodies.”
Langford’s membership was made possible by language within a recent guidance issued by sorority leaders on inclusivity. The national KKG Guide For Supporting Our LGBTQIA+ Members (2021) states that “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.”
Although Langford required a majority vote to gain admission to KKG, not all of the women were pleased with the decision. Last year, one sorority member came forward to state that the women were initially promised anonymity in regards to the voting process, only to then be required to identify themselves on the online ballot form. This resulted in women feeling “intimidated” with voicing their concerns about a male entering the sorority.
In a meeting held to discuss Langford’s potential candidacy, KGG chapter leaders, including the president and membership chair, allegedly dismissed the concerns of women who expressed discomfort.
“Regardless of what your political views are, our Kappa values are acceptance and kindness so if that is something that you disagree with, that’s not in line with Kappa values,” one member allegedly said at the time, according to the unnamed KKG member.
Another member allegedly said “If you vote no, it better be for issues with that new member or else it’s homophobic.” The source told the National Review that comments made by KKG leaders downplayed worries women had about sharing a residence with Langford: “If your only concerns are about her living in the house, you are thinking too far down the road,” it was allegedly said, and, “If you have something to say about this that isn’t kind or respectful, keep it to yourself.”
The source further stated that women who opposed Langford’s admission into the sorority were told they could “drop out” following objections made by ten women, who, as new pledges, were among a group of women who had spent the night together with Langford as part of the sorority’s initiation process.
Additionally, the University of Wyoming KKG members were assured that Langford would require a unananimous vote to secure a place within the organization. “We also don’t know if he had enough votes because they haven’t told us that,” the source said.
When speaking to The Branding Iron in October after his admission into the sorority, Langford violated a policy prohibiting members from speaking as representatives of the KKG to the press. However, in a group chat with other KKG members, the chapter president admitted that while Langford had been exempted from this rule, none of the women involved with the organization would be similarly permitted to be interviewed by the media.
“They’re letting him run with whatever he wants in the newspaper but we’re subject to national guidelines. The rules don’t apply to him,” the anonymous woman told the National Review last year.
Langford has been involved in various aspects of political organizing. Currently, he acts as a legislative intern for the Wyoming Democrats, as acknowledged through social media posts made by the organization. Yesterday, the Wyoming Democrats announced Langford as a “state committeewoman” in Albany County.
Reduxx has discovered that Langford’s given name is Dallin, and that he declared a transgender identity while participating in mock micro-nations in high school.
According to a micro-nations wiki entry, “On the 11th of June 2017, Dallin Langford announced to the micronational community that she was transgender and was given a name change to Artemis Langford as reflection of this revelation. The Kingdom changed into a Queendom and from King to Queen.”
In 2020, Representative Sara Burlingame shared a video of Langford being recognized as a page on the floor of the Wyoming House. Burlingame congratulated Langford on the appointment, referring to him as her “young friend” and using feminine pronouns.
Last December, the University of Wyoming suspended a Laramie church elder’s ability to reserve table space in its student union for a year after he displayed a sign calling Langford a “male.” Todd Schmidt had rented a table in the Wyoming Union, where he posted the sign.
The University deemed the stunt to be harassment, and UW President Ed Seidel sent out a campus-wide e-mail addressing the incident. “Recent events on campus should cause us all trepidation for the well-being and safety of our students and employees,” Seidel wrote.
Seidel added that he and other UW officials had attended a “moving and heartfelt vigil” where members of the university’s Queer Community Coalition “expressed their concerns and fears for their safety.”
“I emphasize that UW stands with each and every student and all identities who are dealing with safety concerns within our community,” Seidel wrote in the e-mail.
Speaking with Cowboy State Daily, Schmidt hit back: “Why doesn’t (Seidel) deal with the safety concerns of the sorority sisters? I haven’t heard anybody speak on behalf of them.”
