- Female students belonging to a sorority at the University of Wyoming have expressed concerns about the potential admission of a transgender woman
- Artemis Langford, 21, does not currently reside in the house, but has been granted permission to move in from September
- A lawsuit filed by some of sorority sisters alleges Langford has exhibited inappropriate behavior, including staring at the girls and being openly aroused
By EMMA JAMES and JAMES GORDON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 21:37 EDT, 15 May 2023 | UPDATED: 23:55 EDT, 15 May 2023.
A group of sorority sisters at the University of Wyoming have broken cover to express their fear that a trans woman will be allowed to move into their house next term.
The seven Kappa Kappa Gamma girls, who filed a lawsuit against the college, claim Artemis Langford, 21, has been visibly aroused while being in their company.
Langford, who is 6’2′ and weighs 260lbs, is not currently living in the property but has spent a ‘significant’ amount of time there alongside 50 other young women and has been granted permission to move into the Sorority House from September.
The women who already live there are now speaking out and said the move leaves them feeling ‘vulnerable’ and ‘uncomfortable’.
‘It is really uncomfortable. Some of the girls have been sexually assaulted or sexually harassed. Some girls live in constant fear in our home,’ one of the sisters, Hannah, told Megyn Kelly on her podcast on Monday.
‘Men are never allowed on the second floor of our house apart from moving in and moving out.
‘So it is an only-female space and not like living in the dorms. We share just a couple of main bathrooms but it is supposed to be safe space for us to rest our head at night.’
One of the sisters is now demanding the management of the Sorority ensure that the home is preserved as an ‘female only’ safe space.
In the lawsuit, obtained by Cowboy StateDaily, it is claimed Langford would stare at the girls in a common-area for hours without talking.
All of the women are calling for a judge to declare Langford sorority membership as void and to award unspecified damages according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states: ‘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,
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.’
Prior to the vote on Langford’s admittance to the sorority, several members of the sisterhood claim that the president and membership chair of the Chapter simply dismissed their concerns.
‘It’s a weird gut wrenching feeling that every time I leave my room I’ll walk past him in the hall in whatever setting that may be. And it’s never a pleasant encounter and that’s the scary part. This just goes to show that we need women’s spaces for that reason. Our house is our home,’ Jaylyn said to Kelly on the podcast.
‘All of the bathrooms are shared spaces and there are no private changing areas or locks. It’s very open and vulnerable.’
The women say they understand that a transwoman such as Langford also needs to be protected and have their own safe space – but moving into their home is not the answer.
There has been an exemption granted for his safety but not for us,’ Ellie explained to Kelly. ‘They have decided that the individual does not need to live in the house but this individual has gotten preferential treatment.
‘He [Langford] still come to the house and engages in dinners and sits in chairs to watch the girls.’
The eight sisters from KKG could all be seen nodding in agreement.
‘We lost quite a few members as a result of this. I refuse to subvert my rights as a women to cater towards the comfort of a man. Everyone needs to be treated with dignity and request but there’s a line and it has been crossed,’ Cassie explained.
‘We can’t allow woke culture to be the arbiter of what sisterhood is. It’s a shared experience. It’s growth and development. This experience is not doing this individual any justice whatsoever.’
The lawsuit also alleged that Langford ‘has, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection visible through his leggings. Other times, he has had a pillow in his lap.’
They also accused him of taking photos of them at a slumber party and to have made inappropriate comments to them.
It continued: ‘Langford repeatedly questioned the women about what vaginas look like, breast cup size, whether women were considering breast reductions and birth control’.
He was reportedly supposed to leave the party by 10pm but stayed until midnight and returned the next morning where he reportedly stood in the corner watching the girls change out of their pajamas.
One of the women claimed she didn’t know her sorority sister had returned to the residence and had changed out of her pajama top without a bra on and when she turned around she found Langford staring at her, the complaint alleged.
Fellow sisters reportedly later revealed to her that Langford had ‘his hands over his genitals’ and appeared sexually aroused.
‘Since that event, Mr. Smith [Langford] has repeatedly asked [the woman] about her romantic attachments,’ the lawsuit read.
The women also claimed that Langford is attracted to women, which they say is evident on her Tinder profile ‘through which he seeks to meet women.’
Another alleged she watched her walked down the hallway in a towel and that she sat at the back of the room during a group yoga class in December and ‘watched the assembled young women flex their bodies,’ the lawsuit said.
Langford also identifies as male on a Washington State driver’s license even though she legally could have identified on it as female or ‘X’ gender, the lawsuit alleges.
But supporters of the community say trans women are already vulnerable, and that it is unfair to persecute the vast majority who just want to live their lives in peace because of the actions of a few bad apples.
It wasn’t simply the managers of the Chapter who pushed for Langford to be admitted, but other senior members of the sorority also encouraged the sisters to welcome Langford to the group.
They reportedly told the group ‘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.’
Another member allegedly said: ‘It’s 2022. If you vote no, it better be for, like, literal issues with that new member or else it’s homophobic.’
A third added: ‘If your only concerns are about her living in the house, you are thinking too far down the road.
‘If you have something to say about this that isn’t kind or respectful, keep it to yourself’, according to the National Review.
One sorority sister told the publication that Langford isn’t even making ‘any effort’ to ‘physically look like a girl’, adding: ‘He’s just calling himself a girl. All you have to do is identify as a she/her.’
The sorority is accused of improperly relying on a 2018 ‘Guide for Supporting Our LGBTQIA+ Members’ that says Kappa Kappa Gamma is a ‘single-gender’ organization that admits both ‘women’ and ‘individuals who identify as women’ rather than official bylaws, according to the lawsuit.
Leadership reportedly told members that if they have any issues with Langford then they can ‘drop out’.
One member even said that she was called a ‘bigot and a transphobe’ for not wanting to shower and sleep with Langford in the same area.
They told the National Review: ‘It’s an awful situation to be in. It’s scary, not knowing if I’m going to transfer out of the school next semester.’
Before Langford was voted in, KKG sent out a Google document for members to vote on – which they were initially told would be anonymous.
However the online ballot asked members to identify themselves with their emails, which left the intimated women feeling more uncomfortable.