Trans-Identifying Man Sues Lawyers Who Represented Sorority Sisters in Case over Male Admission

The transgender-identifying male student who was admitted into Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming is suing the local lawyers who represented six female students in their case to remove him from the sorority.

In March 2023, the female plaintiffs sued KKG and its president Mary Pat Rooney, arguing that their chapter’s decision to admit a man, Artemis Langford, violated the national organization’s corporate charter. KKG responded on June 21 by calling the claims “baseless” and the litigation “frivolous” in a motion to dismiss. Langford was also named as a defendant given that the litigation directly impacted his KKG membership.

Now a year after that litigation started, Langford has alleged abuse of process, malicious prosecution, intrusion upon seclusion, and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the women’s legal team in a new lawsuit. He argued that the women weaponized “the legal system to publicly bully and humiliate” him, “while seeking donations to pay for their own attorney fees.” For these alleged abuses by the local Wyoming lawyers, John Knepper and Casandra Craven, Langford requests punitive damages. The Independent Women’s Law Center has since taken over the female members’ case, which will be argued in Denver in May.

Langford complained that the women’s lawsuit attempted “to spark public outrage at Ms. Langford’s expense” by including allegedly irrelevant descriptions of his height (6’2”), weight (260 pounds), and masculine appearance. The original lawsuit also claimed he had taken no steps to transition, an “inaccurate suggestion” according to the complaint.

At the time of the complaint, Langford still carried a driver’s license that identified him as a male, wore women’s clothing only occasionally, and refrained from treatments such as hormone therapy, feminization surgery, and laser-hair removal, according to the plaintiffs in the original suit. The female students also accused Langford of becoming visibly aroused in the presence of other KKG members, which his complaint called a “discredited, drunken rumor.”

The female students created a media frenzy by going on national TV to share their story, Langford said, which enabled them to raise a large amount of money for attorney fees. For example, a crowdfunding site sought to raise $250,000 for legal expenses for their case. The female students also “raised money for their own attorney fees through a secret, password-protected website which funneled money through a group called ‘Sapphire Syndicate,'” the complaint alleges.

After Langford was inducted into KKG, he spoke on behalf of the sorority to the school newspaper, the Branding Iron, in violation of a rule prohibiting members from communicating with the press.

“I feel so glad to be in a place that I think not only shares my values, but to be in a sisterhood of awesome women that want to make history,” Langford told the publication. “They want to break the glass ceiling, trailblazing you know, and I certainly feel that as their first trans member, at least in the chapter in Wyoming history.”

After the female students’ case gained attention, Langford spent a week with the Washington Post working on an expansive profile piece discrediting the women’s concerns. The piece suggested that the media outcry over Langford’s admission had created a threatening environment that made it prudent for him to acquire a gun and prepare a “go bag” to flee at a moment’s notice.

Langford’s complaint also said that the female students exposed his identity in court filings against his will. “Defendants needlessly disclosed Ms. Langford’s full, legal name in court filings,” the complaint said.

The local lawyers filed an anonymous lawsuit on March 27, 2023, seeking to uphold the sorority’s longstanding bylaws that only women can be members and restore the six plaintiffs’ sisterhood. The suit explained that the male would remain anonymous “for the same reasons” as the women wanted to remain anonymous:  safety. Langford was referred to as “Terry Smith”, rather than a typical male name like John Doe.

The Court ruled that the women’s request for anonymity was inappropriate, given that the case “did not involve matters of a highly sensitive and personal nature or a real danger of physical harm.” When the women filed their updated complaint on April 20, the male in KKG was already known as Artemis Langford due to his Branding Iron interview. With already significant public awareness, the attorneys dropped his and the women’s pseudonyms.

Kappa Kappa Gamma did not respond to request for comment. Langford’s attorneys did not immediately respond to request for comment.