A federal lawsuit against a University of Wyoming sorority for admitting a transgender woman appears headed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for the second time.
On Wednesday, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal, signaling their intention to reverse U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson’s dismissal of their lawsuit last month.
In 2023, six Kappa Kappa Gamma members, including Jayln Westenbroek, Hannah Holtmeier, Allison Coghan, Grace Choate, Madeline Ramar and Megan Kosar, sued the sorority for allegedly breaking its bylaws, breaching housing contracts and misleading sisters when it admitted student Artemis Langford.
Johnson dismissed their suit for the first time in August 2023, ruling the court couldn’t interfere in how a private organization admits members. Later that year, the plaintiffs tried to appeal, but the higher court rejected the case on the grounds that the district court’s ruling did not amount to a final decision.
However, since Johnson ruled “with prejudice” last month, the appeals court will be dealing with a final ruling this time, making it more likely for a decision to rest on the merits of a case and less on procedure.
After the appeals court tossed the case, the legal complaint went unresolved for several months before Johnson set a deadline earlier this year for the plaintiffs to refile or his ruling would convert to a final judgment.
In June, a new set of plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, dropping Langford as a defendant and omitting earlier allegations that Johnson described as “unbefitting in federal court.”
That same month, the Trump administration announced it would investigate UW for alleged Title IX violations stemming from the case. The U.S. Department of Education, which handles such investigations, has not given an update since then, and when a WyoFile reporter called the agency’s press office Wednesday, an automated message said its “information resource center is temporarily closed.”
Johnson dismissed the case in August, almost two years to the day after he first rejected the case. His reasoning was much the same as in 2023, when he ruled that the sorority has the freedom as a private organization to decide who it wants to admit as members, including transgender women.
“In short, we are required to leave Kappa alone,” Johnson ruled in 2025.
The plaintiffs now have a limited time to file their appeal. The appellate case had not yet been opened by publishing time, according to the public docket.
Are you kidding me Matt? Our president is canceling everyone who speaks the truth and hurts his feewings. The Algerian boxer you speak of is a woman but I’m sure Fox News did not update that information. As far as some trans women, they have the mentality of Trump but in a dress. As they are raised that they can do what they want when they want so they think they have every right to join a sorority, sports team, whatever…
Hi Patricia:
I assume you are referring to Jimmy Kimmel. Consider this; the outraged Leftists ignore or don’t know that ABC, et al lease the radio spectrum from the federal government, which means the FCC does have a say in how the publicly owned asset is used. 50-years ago, if Kimmel said something similar on TV; the network and affiliates would have immediately cut the feed and substituted it with a test pattern, or ‘Technical Difficulties’ screen.
Ironically the big government, regulation loving Leftists are howling mad that Kimmel is being subjected to ‘Consequence Culture’ by the regulatory state they promote.
As for the Algerian boxer; he has a birth defect of the genitalia that in the past would label him a Hermaphrodite (Hermes-Aphrodite) that the Politically Correct have called various names over the years. I think ‘intersex’ is the label du jour. Genes don’t lie, and the boxer is male.
Cheers.
At this point, are any of them even in college? Did they graduate? Or just living off the ‘fame’? Really, move on. Start the rest of your life.
I don’t see how they can win when the majority of the sisters wanted Langford.
Given the Left’s ‘cancel culture’ nature; I suspect the sorority girls were pressured to accept Langford against their better judgment. Time and again from Riley Gaines and her team mates, to high school girls from Connecticut to California participating in track & field, to the Olympics (notably boxing in the last games) the female athletes are told to ‘shut up’ otherwise they’ll be labelled as bigots, transphobes, etc., ad nauseum.
Maybe not a great time to be attacking the left for cancel culture.
Is that true of the other 10 to 15 national sororities that also accept trans members?
ms. langford was voted in by the members.
again, why does an elderly man care who a private sorority admits into their ranks?
Why can’t he or she or whatever start their own sorority? Problem solved.
Do they not have any hobbies? Get a freaking life. Like are you that sad and alone that attacking somebody for being themselves is the only way you can find community.
On the positive side – great article Maggie ❤️
Which one of them is angling for a job at fox “news”?