The real victims in UW free speech case are trans students

A church official is playing the victim in a free speech lawsuit against the University of Wyoming, but just because a judge ruled in his favor doesn’t mean Todd Schmidt’s targeted protest of the first transgender woman to join a sorority on the Laramie campus hasn’t caused harm.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal decided Todd Schmidt, an elder of the Laramie Faith Community Church, did not harass or discriminate against UW student Artemis Langford, as defined by federal law.

The judge granted a preliminary injunction keeping UW from punishing Schmidt for singling out Langford on a sign displayed at a table he rented in the UW student union’s breezeway last December.

“God created men and women,” the sign proclaimed, “and Artemis Langford is a man.”

Several students jumped into action blocking the sign that misgendered Langford, and then complained to university officials. Dean of Students Ryan O’Neil asked Schmidt to cover Langford’s name, and he refused to comply until she threatened to call campus police, court documents show.

UW has the duty to safeguard Langford and other trans students harassed because of their gender identity, a class protected under federal law. Schmidt’s sign sparked negative reactions to not just Langford, but all transgender students.

Freudenthal ruled there was no evidence presented that Schmidt’s actions caused Langford to suffer academically.  

It’s not directly related to Schmidt’s lawsuit against UW that claims his freedom of expression was violated, but the public should be aware that Langford has endured hateful reactions since she joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority last fall. It’s easy to empathize with her for the way various people and groups have terribly mistreated her.

Langford’s decision to accept KKG’s invitation to join was pounced on by state and national right-wing media outlets, which immediately began ridiculing, denouncing and misgendering her. Anonymous sources on campus repeated unfounded allegations that Langford was a sexual predator pretending to be a woman to harm her new sorority sisters.

While “news” accounts routinely stated that opponents felt other members were in danger because Langford lived in the same house, she never resided there, nor does she plan to this semester.

The attention Langford received for joining the sorority — from the time she was inducted through today, more than eight months after the Schmidt incident — has clearly made the student fear for her safety.

In a profile by WyoFile reporter Maggie Mullen, Langford candidly described her concerns about the negative publicity. “What if someone comes up to me?” she recalled thinking. “Or what if someone tries to harm me?”

In today’s polarized political climate, where many transgender people have been attacked and even killed, who wouldn’t be worried? On Aug. 18, Lauri Ann Carleton of California was shot and killed by a man for simply flying a Pride flag outside her shop. Research shows transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime.

Did Schmidt need to name Langford? Freudenthal ruled it was necessary for an “earnest debate” on an important public issue, but I disagree. Schmidt could have stated his religious belief that he opposes any transgender woman belonging to a sorority without singling out Langford by name.  

There have been negative political repercussions as well in Wyoming.

A few days after UW suspended Schmidt’s “tabling privileges” for a year, 25 members of the Legislature’s far-right Freedom Caucus wrote to UW officials, protesting the alleged violation of his freedom of expression and demanding that he be allowed to return to the union breezeway.

For the record, UW did not keep Schmidt from his personal mission to preach to students in any other location, and he returned to the campus within a few days, the Casper Star-Tribune reported at the time.

“Colleges in general need to lose their ‘wokeness’ and focus on serious academic inquiry or they are fast undermining their legitimacy,” said Rep. Jeanette Ward (R-Casper), who drafted the letter. She also said lawmakers should defund UW’s gender and women’s studies program.

Despite Freudenthal’s wish for an earnest state and national debate, it hasn’t happened yet, and at this point it’s unrealistic to believe it will. Far-right politicians and personalities simply want to denigrate LGBTQ people, and Langford is an easy target for their hate. In May, the world’s best-known transgender celebrity, Caitlyn Jenner, called her “a perverted, sexually deviant male” on Fox News. 

UW’s initial response to the debacle was tepid and raised questions about how seriously the university took the matter until influential parties began to complain.

UW President Ed Seidel sent an email to the university community three days after the incident, noting Schmidt’s interactions with students were “not in obvious violation of UW policies.”

Two days after that email, Seidel sent another one. “While freedom of expression is cherished on this campus and across this nation, a line was crossed when a student was harassed by name,” he wrote. “This is something we will not tolerate on this campus, and this action speaks to  that key principle to which we adhere at UW.”

What caused the tougher approach? Did officials suddenly realize UW’s Title IX federal funds could be in jeopardy if they did not provide Langford with protection against discrimination due to her gender identity?

Could be. More likely, though, Seidel suddenly figured out which way the wind was blowing when he received a letter from an alumni group asking him to ban Schmidt from tabling in the union.

According to court documents, the group recounted other instances of Schmidt yelling at students and questioning their sexual identity — a charge he denies. The president was told the group would resign from alumni memberships, withhold donations and refuse to return to the campus for future activities.

The same day the alumni letter arrived, O’Neil notified Schmidt about his year-long ban on reserving a union table. She explained that an investigation by UW’s Equal Opportunity Report and Response Office concluded Schmidt’s history of harassing LGBTQ students over the past 17 years and his naming Langford were the only reasons for suspending his tabling privileges, not his speech or religious views. (Schmidt has denied that he’s harassed students.)

UW has a long, embarrassing history of responding to controversies by doing whatever rich and powerful alumni demand. For numerous, richly researched examples, I recommend former UW professor Jeffrey Lockwood’s “Behind the Carbon Curtain: The Energy Industry, Political Censorship and Free Speech.”

Despite the administration’s initial wavering, UW’s response to the lawsuit contained some excellent arguments, including the fact the breezeway is a limited public forum, and the university has the power to control who uses it. There is no inherent “right” to have a table; it’s a privilege that can be yanked for bad behavior, like violating UW regulations.

In granting the injunction, Freudenthal ruled Schmidt made his case that he was “irreparably harmed” by UW violating his right to free expression and that he is likely to win if the case goes to trial. It’s a difficult decision to accept for many people who know the harm Langford has experienced, at least partly because of Schmidt’s actions.

UW said it will abide by the ruling while deciding whether to continue fighting the lawsuit. But throwing in the towel now is a response UW can’t afford, given the anger of alumni, students and other groups about what’s transpired. 

In other legal action, in May six Kappa Kappa Gamma members filed a lawsuit against Langford and the sorority. Cassie Craven, attorney for the plaintiffs, appeared on Fox News and observed, “You can put lipstick on a pig, that doesn’t make it a lady,” while her clients laughed in the background.

Fortunately, U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson threw out the suit last week because the “sisters” didn’t make a valid claim against the defendants.

The judge noted KKG’s UW chapter voted to admit Langford and the national sorority wants the private, voluntary organization to support transgender members. “The court will not define ‘woman’ today,” Johnson wrote.

In the Schmidt matter, Freudenthal’s injunction is only temporary while the lawsuit winds through the court system. If the case continues, at some point another judge could look at the same evidence and conclude that Langford was illegally discriminated against and harassed by Schmidt. 

UW still has a solid defense, and it needs to continue. It’s unacceptable for any university to waive its solemn duty to protect its most vulnerable students from harm.