Mick Hartley

Back in March we heard about the case of the University of Wyoming sorority members who had to live with a 6' 2" 260 pound man who "identifies as a woman", and so has access to their private spaces. He particularly liked to watch them in the showering area, all the while sporting an erection. Naturally outraged, the six women took their case to court.

Well, they lost:

A sorority at the University of Wyoming will be forced to accommodate a 6’2 trans-identified male after the federal District Court rejected a suit brought by six of the female members. Women from Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) sued the national leadership of their sorority after expressing discomfort with the presence of Artemis Langford.

Despite hearing testimony from the women, some of whom stated Langford had “watched” them undress with an erection, Judge Alan Johnson dismissed the case of Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity on August 25. Johnson stated that re-defining “woman” to include males was “Kappa Kappa Gamma’s bedrock right as a private, voluntary organization — and one this Court may not invade.”

In other words, if the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity defines "woman" as anyone who identifies as a woman, well, that's their business.

As a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Langford, who is 6’2 and weighs approximately 260 pounds, is granted access to the KKG sorority house, which accommodates up to 50 women.

Though Langford had been residing elsewhere at the time of the first filing, women alleged that he would frequently sit in the second-floor common area and had been observed watching the women on multiple occasions.

According to court records, Langford had been voyeuristically peeping on the women while they were in intimate situations, and, on at least one occasion, had a visible erection while doing so.

“One sorority member walked down the hall to take a shower, wearing only a towel … She felt an unsettling presence, turned, and saw [Langford] watching her silently,” the court document reads.

“[Langford] has, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection visible through his leggings,” the suit says. “Other times, he has had a pillow in his lap.”

As evidenced by his Tinder profile, Langford is “sexually interested in women.” It was further stated in the suit that Langford took photographs of the women while at a sorority slumber party, where he also is said to have made inappropriate comments.

“[He] repeatedly questioned the women about what vaginas look like, breast cup size, whether women were considering breast reductions and birth control,” the complaint had claimed. 

The women who dared to question Langford's right to access what they assumed would be women-only spaces, meanwhile, have been named and shamed:

Last week, local outlet Wyofile sympathetically profiled Langford and attempted to portray the women’s objections with his presence in the sorority house as homophobic, asserting that his declared sexual interest in women qualified him as being “gay.”…

“The lawsuit against Artemis is horrible, false, and causing harm to Artemis and other trans people,” Langford’s lawyer, Rachel Berkness, told Wyofile.

“The reality is this lawsuit is being used as clickbait so that the plaintiffs’ lawyers can raise money at the expense of a kind and wonderful student in our community,” Langford’s lawyer told Wyofile. “I hope people look back at this case in the same way they look back at other attacks on members of minority groups in our history — as shameful and not who we are.”

So a man who likes to watch women undress is the hero here – "a kind and wonderful student in our community" – while the women who object to being ogled by a predatory creep are vilified as transphobes attacking down-trodden members of minority groups. And not just transphobes but homophobes too, because Langford, being sexually attracted to women and identifying as a woman, makes him gay in gender-world.

It's a strange old turn-around.