Tipsheet

‘Trans' Sorority Member at the Center of Lawsuit Speaks Out

This week, Artemis Langford, a man who believes he is a woman and joined a sorority at the University of Wyoming, spoke out in an interview about a lawsuit brought forward by members of his sorority to block him from joining.

In the interview, Langford claimed that there were women in the sorority who were supportive of him being included. He also claimed that no one was expecting to be in a situation where there was a lawsuit over one of the members.

MSNBC host Yasmin Vossoughian praised Langford for being “brave” and “unique” for claiming he is a woman and joining a sorority, which has put other female members in fear. 

“What makes you want to stay [in the sorority], with everything that you’ve been through?” Vossoughian asked Langford. 

“I think I want people to know that everything that they’ve experienced that, I’m certainly not the first trans person to ever be attacked by elements in the media, to be used, and unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be the last, but, I want people to know that it’s never okay for that kind of scrutiny on a person just because their identity. Just because I’m trans. And I hope that even if there's one person out there who feels that their identity is being attacked, that it's OK to be who they are and it’s never okay to be attacked on their identity,” he claimed. 

Paula Scanlan, a former swimmer for the University of Pennsylvania who competed with “transgender” swimmer Will “Lia” Thomas and was forced to share a locker room with him, pointed out that “people are so obsessed with being in spaces they are very clearly not welcomed.” 

“This entire movement tells us women we don’t matter,” she added. “It tells us that no matter how small or limited the spaces and opportunities we have males will always be entitled to them.”

Predictably, in the interview, Vossoughian gave no mention to the “constant fear” and anxiety the women in UW’s Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority have been through since Langford was granted admission into the organization.

To recap, Townhall previously reported that seven past and present members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority filed a lawsuit against the University of Wyoming after it admitted Langford, a biological male who identifies as a “transgender woman.” Before this, the university was praised by trans activists for “making history” by allowing Langford to join. 

In the lawsuit, the women alleged that Langford “watched” members of the sorority and has had “an erection visible through his leggings” or “has had a pillow in his lap.” One time, at a slumber party, he was asked to leave, and said he’d leave “after you fall asleep.” The suit also said that Langford “repeatedly questioned the women about what vaginas look like, breast cup size, whether women were considering breast reductions and birth control.” Other reports claimed that Langford is still attracted to women and has online dating profiles aimed at meeting women.

In an interview on Megyn Kelly’s podcast, one of the women involved in the lawsuit claimed that they live in “constant fear” of him in their home.

“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 never a pleasant encounter. And that’s the scary part. It’s a weird feeling just to know that I could run into him anytime – full access to the [sorority] house. It goes to show like, we need women’s spaces for that reason. Our house is our home…you go home at the end of the day to feel comfortable and relaxed in your own skin. And you can’t do that knowing that this individual has full access to your house.”

A Wyoming judge dismissed their lawsuit, as Leah reported. Since the sorority’s bylaws do not define what a woman is, U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson ruled he could not move forward with the suit. 

“The delegate of a private, voluntary organization interpreted ‘woman,’ otherwise undefined in the nonprofit’s bylaws, expansively; this Judge may not invade Kappa Kappa Gamma’s freedom of expressive association and inject the circumscribed definition Plaintiffs urge," the judge wrote.