Seven sorority members are suing the Kappa Kappa Gamma fraternity to challenge the induction of a transgender woman into the local chapter of the University of Wyoming.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in US District Court in Cheyenne, claims that allowing the transgender woman, identified by the pseudonym Terry Smith, to be a member violates Kappa Kappa Gamma’s bylaws, which state that the sorority it is a “one gender” organization. .
The women filed the lawsuit anonymously against Ohio-based Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity Council President Mary Pat Rooney, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Building Co. and Terry Smith.
The suit seeks to terminate Smith’s membership and seeks unspecified damages.
Kappa Kappa Gamma said in a statement: “We are aware of the litigation brought in this case and intend to address it through the legal process. While we cannot comment in detail on this pending litigation, it contains numerous false allegations.»
The organization added that it «values diversity» and does not discriminate based on gender identity.
Kappa Kappa Gamma Housing Company, Rooney and Smith did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The attorneys were not listed in the defendants’ online court documents.
Smith, 21, was inducted into the University of Wyoming’s Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter in the fall of 2022.
The lawsuit argues that the sorority followed a 2018 “Guide to Supporting Our LGBTQIA+ Members,” which stated that Kappa Kappa Gamma admits both “women and “individuals who identify as women” in accepting Smith’s membership.
The lawsuit contends that the guidance is an «unlawful abandonment of the sorority’s requirement of single-sex membership» and that the organization’s bylaws, governing rules, and policies restrict membership to women and do not allow membership. of Smith.
“The Fraternity Council has betrayed the core purpose and mission of Kappa Kappa Gamma by conflating the experience of being a woman with the experience of men who behave generally associated with women,” the complaint states.
Smith identifies with female pronouns on Twitter. The lawsuit says Smith wears women’s clothing «only occasionally» and has not undergone a medical gender transition and identifies as male on a Washington state driver’s license, though Smith could have identified as female or gender «X.» «says the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that national sorority officials pressured the local chapter to violate sorority rules by allowing Smith into the sorority.
Generally, all chapter members are required to vote for a new member, unless excused, and voting takes place via an electronic voting system on the «Omega Recruit» phone app. But in Smith’s case, not all chapter members voted and voting was done via Google Poll, the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs also claimed that Smith’s application for membership was evaluated using a different standard than other recruits, as Smith had a cumulative GPA below the Kappa requirement of at least a 2.7 GPA, according to the House charter.
The lawsuit also listed several instances in which Kappa Kappa Gamma members allegedly felt uncomfortable with Smith.
The lawsuit said Smith did not live in the sorority house, but would sit there for hours and allegedly watch the women inside.
“A sorority member walked down the hall to take a shower wearing only a towel. He sensed a haunting presence, turned and saw Mr. Smith silently watching her,” the lawsuit said.
The complaint says that witnesses observed Smith sitting in a chair in the living room of the sorority house on multiple occasions looking at members as they entered.
«Smith, while observing members enter the sorority house, developed an erection visible» through the leggings, the complaint states.
The morning after a sleepover, before Kappa’s initiation ceremony for new members, Smith’s conduct was described as «inappropriate and threatening,» according to the complaint.
Although Smith didn’t stay the night, Smith returned to the sorority house the next morning and «stood quietly in the corner of the room near the door while other pledges changed out of their sleepwear for other clothes,» he says. the demand.
Smith allegedly saw a woman who was not wearing a bra change her shirt. After that incident, “other Kappa members informed Ms. Doe VI that while watching her” Smith had become “sexually aroused,” the complaint says, and Smith allegedly “repeatedly questioned” Doe VI about her romantic ties afterward. of the meeting
The plaintiffs claimed that they contacted national brotherhood officials on several occasions, either on their own or through attorneys, but «their concerns were dismissed.»
The lawsuit says only 10 of the more than 40 chapter members living in the sorority house have signed new housing contracts to live there next year, which the lawsuit says is due to a lack of privacy given the access from Smith to her.
The complaint also noted that Congress created an exception to Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational settings that receive federal funding, allowing social sororities and fraternities to maintain their organizations in a just sex.