A transgender University of Wyoming (UW) student has been dropped from the federal lawsuit that thrust them into the national spotlight.
In 2022, the student, Artemis Langford, was inducted into the UW chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG). In response, six other members of that chapter sued the national organization seeking the student’s removal.
U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson ruled against them, saying private organizations can induct whomever they want. Johnson told the plaintiffs they were welcome to refile, but warned them not to "copy and paste" from the original complaint. The initial suit included various allegations about Langford that were not connected to any specific claims. The judge noted these allegations were irrelevant and "unsubstantiated."
The plaintiffs appeared to have listened. While the original lawsuit named Langford as a defendant, the refiled lawsuit does not. The refiled suit also deletes all of the allegations, focusing instead on the actions of local and national KKG leadership.
The plaintiffs refiled their lawsuit on the last possible day, and just one week after the U.S. Department of Education announced it is investigating UW in connection to Langford’s induction into Kappa.
The refiled lawsuit argues KKG failed to uphold its promise of providing members with a single-sex environment by admitting transgender members, whom the lawsuit refers to as “biological men.”
"Kappa must be held to comply with its Governing Documents and must remain loyal to its mission and the promises the Fraternity has made to its members throughout its history," states the lawsuit. "All attempts at dialogue have failed, so Plaintiffs seek relief from this Court."
The refiled suit also alleges there was an "irregular voting process" put in place to favor Langford. They allege this irregular process prevented them from blocking Langford's admission and that chapter officers pressured those who could vote to vote in favor of Langford's admission.
"After the vote, several members, including the Plaintiffs, objected to the Student's membership as a violation of Kappa’s Governing Documents and made their objections known to the Defendants," the lawsuit states. "In response, the Defendants, through their representatives, advised the Plaintiffs that, if they disagreed with the Student's membership, their values were inconsistent with Kappa's values and they should resign their membership."
Some plaintiffs have since graduated or transferred but remain members of Kappa.
The number of plaintiffs has fallen throughout the life of the lawsuit. Originally, seven plaintiffs filed anonymously. Only six stayed on when a court ruled they could not stay anonymous. The refiled lawsuit drops four of those six, with only Hannah Holtmeier and Allie Coghan remaining connected to the suit. The refiled suit adds a new plaintiff, Haley Rutsch, another member of the UW Kappa chapter.
Since the lawsuit was launched in 2023, the plaintiffs and their legal counsel have appeared repeatedly on national conservative media. A few, including Holtmeier and Coghan, have become ambassadors for the Independent Women’s Forum, a national organization opposed to transgender inclusion in female spaces.
Langford is now suing the lawyers behind the federal lawsuit, who include Cassie Craven, a well-known Wyoming attorney who frequently wades into political discourse. Langford alleges they "actively participated in bullying" her to gain media attention.
"Defendants and their clients agreed to interviews on The Laura Ingraham Angle, The Megyn Kelly Show, and Fox News' America Reports and cooperated with print media sources to publish hurtful stories about Ms. Langford," states Langford's lawsuit, which is filed in Laramie County District Court. "During the interviews, Defendants mocked Ms. Langford's physical appearance, made jabs about her G.P.A., and attempted to paint Ms. Langford as a sexual deviant who had joined a transgender-friendly sorority simply to gain access to women. None of these actions were proper in the regular course of the Lawsuit, but, upon information and belief, were instead tactics to drive donations to pay Defendants' legal fees."
Langford's lawyer, Rachel Berkness, said Craven’s actions constitute a "blatant abuse of the legal system."
"As an attorney, you are supposed to be paid if you win," Berkness said. "You are not supposed to file a lawsuit and then ask for donations from the community up front. But that's what they have done. Ms. Langford was an early victim of this new tactic of lawsuit abuse and she hopes her response might make lawyers think twice before doing that to another human being."
Craven did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
