‘Constant fear:’ Sorority sisters speak out on being forced to share quarters with ‘trans’ student

by Chris Lange

Chris Lange, FISM News

 

A group of female students at the University of Wyoming said they “live in constant fear” of a biological man whom they were pressured to accept into their sorority.

Seven Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority members who filed a lawsuit against the University came forward to describe their harrowing experience during a recent installment of the Megyn Kelly Show podcast. The women described the way in which Artemis Langford, 21, identified in the suit by his given name of Terry Smith, has voyeuristically watched them for hours at a time, often becoming physically aroused.

The New York Post reported that the 6-foot-2, 260-pound “trans” student joined the sorority chapter in September 2022. Since that time, Langford has reportedly been living outside the sorority house with the expectation that he would move in the following year but spends considerable time inside the house, according to the attorney representing the women.

“It’s a weird, gut-wrenching feeling that every time I leave my room there’s a possibility that I’ll walk past him in the hall,” one of the sorority sisters, Hannah, told Kelly.

“It’s a weird feeling just to know that I could run into him anytime … (he has) full access to the house. But this just goes to show [that] we need women’s spaces for that reason,” she continued.

Another student said that some of her fellow sorority sisters have experienced sexual trauma in the past and feel particularly unsafe around Langford. She pointed out that unlike living in campus dorms, she and her housemates are more isolated and share limited bathroom space.

“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 lawsuit alleges, according to the New York Post.

“Mr. Smith has, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection visible through his leggings,” the Complaint continued. “Other times, he has had a pillow in his lap.”  

DOUBLE STANDARD

Cassie Craven, one of the attorneys who represents the women, told Kelly that “there has been an exemption granted for him for his safety, but not for these young women.”

“That individual still comes to the house, still engages in dinner, still sits in the chair and watches the girls,” Craven said, arguing that, while trans students “deserve to be safe and protected,” it shouldn’t come at the price of the safety and protection of women.

“It’s so obvious. It’s so biologically fundamental to the core. And we can’t allow, well, culture to be the arbiter of what sisterhood is,” Craven said. “It’s a shared experience and it’s growth and it’s development, and this experience is not doing this individual any justice whatsoever. So that’s where I think the left gets it wrong.”

Her point was underscored by a remark made by one of the young women who told Kelly that she contemplated leaving the sorority as a result of the stressful situation but had ultimately decided to stay.

“I realized how important this organization is to me and to everybody else. And I refuse to allow subverting my rights as a woman to cater towards the comfort of a man. I will not let him take these opportunities away from me,” she said.

The lawsuit alleges that the national Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and its national council president, along with Langford, put pressure on the local chapter to circumvent sorority rules. The plaintiffs asserted that instead of following official bylaws, which identify Kappa Kappa Gamma as a “single-gender” organization, the sorority accepted Langford on the basis of a 2018 “Guide for Supporting Our LGBTQIA+ Members.” 

Kari Kittrell Poole, the sorority’s executive director, previously told the Associated Press that the lawsuit “contains numerous false allegations,” without further specificity.

The plaintiffs are asking the judge to void Langford’s membership and to award unspecified damages. They were originally identified in the suit as “Jane Does.” In April, U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson ordered the plaintiffs to refile the suit using their full names, per the AP report.

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