Alumni removed from sorority for advocating membership for biological women only
Kappa Kappa Gamma alumna Allie Coghan and Independent Women’s Law Center’s May Mailman on the sorority’s transgender lawsuit
Two longtime sorority alumni have been removed from the organization after advocating that membership be restricted to biological women only.
After being affiliated with Kappa Kappa Gamma for over 50 years at the University of Wyoming, Patsy Levang and Cheryl Tuck-Smith found out they were expelled from the sorority after fundraising and supporting a lawsuit that aimed to remove transgender member Artemis Langford.
Reacting to the news on "FOX & Friends First," Allie Coghan, a Kappa Kappa Gamma alumni and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told co-host Carley Shimkus on Monday that the fallout from the lawsuit had been disappointing.
WYOMING SORORITY SISTERS SPEAK OUT AFTER LAWSUIT LAUNCHED OVER TRANSGENDER MEMBER
"It was really disappointing to hear that they're being dismissed because this is retaliation against women, and it's supposed to be an organization meant for women," Coghan said.
"So to hear that they didn't want to see these brave women sticking up for us and supporting us, then, I mean, where are we supposed to go? Where are women supposed to go if a women's organization isn't going to stick up for itself?"
Levang, a past Kappa Kappa Gamma National Foundation president, said she was saddened by the decision to be removed from the organization.
"My heart was saddened when the current six council members voted me out. However, I will not be quiet about the truth," she said in a press release released by the Independent Women's Forum.
Reacting to the news on "FOX & Friends First," Allie Coghan, a Kappa Kappa Gamma alumni and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told co-host Carley Shimkus that the fallout has been disappointing.
Tuck-Smith said she was also disappointed and added that she will educate people on the "dangers" of diversity, equity and inclusion.
In a statement released to "FOX & Friends First" on the dismissal, Kappa Kappa Gamma responded: "We do not share information publicly about policy violations that may result in disciplinary action."
The decision to remove the members came after Kappa Kappa Gamma in August "applauded" a federal judge in Wyoming for dismissing a case against the group over the right of a sorority to choose its members.
The judge's dismissal was predicated on the plaintiff's failure to state any plausible claim and for flinging allegations that were deemed "unbefitting a federal court."
Former members of the University of Wyoming’s Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sued the national organization in March over the inclusion of a trans woman, 21-year-old Langford, into the sorority last year.
The sorority members alleged in the suit that Langford had "been voyeuristically peeping on them while they were in intimate situations, and, in at least one occasion, had a visible erection while doing so."
Coghan was joined by her lawyer, May Mailman, from the Independent Women's Law Center.
Mailman said Coghan's case is before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and it will have to grapple with the question: what is a woman?
"There the issue is going to be Kappa’s bylaws protect women. It says that only women can be members," Mailman told Shimkus.
Mailman went on to say, "So the big question for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is what is a woman? Do you know what a woman is? This is something that we don't expect to be a very difficult legal brief to write. But we do hope that the 10th Circuit understands reality, has seen women around them, can spot one, understands what one is."
FOX News' Yael Halon and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
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