Kappa Kappa Gamma Defends Decision to Allow Transgender Woman to Join University of Wyoming Chapter

A national sorority has defended its decision to allow a transgender woman to join its University of Wyoming chapter, filing a motion to dismiss a lawsuit from seven members of the organization.

Kappa Kappa Gamma filed the motion to dismiss in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne on Tuesday, its first substantive response to the lawsuit, other than a March statement by its executive director, Kari Kittrell Poole, that the complaint contains “numerous false allegations.”

The lawsuit was filed in March by seven members of Kappa Kappa Gamma at Wyoming’s only four-year state university, who argued that the sorority violated its own rules by admitting Artemis Langford last year.

In its motion to dismiss, the sorority argued that its rules allow a transgender woman to belong to its University of Wyoming chapter, and that a court cannot interfere with that. The motion also stated that the sorority has a “longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion” and that the seven plaintiffs “have no legal basis for their claims.”

The motion to dismiss is the latest development in a case that has sparked a national debate over the rights of transgender people. The outcome of the case could have implications for other organizations and institutions that are grappling with similar issues.