The student discussed in this story is a member of the Branding Iron staff but was not involved in the writing of this article.
The plaintiffs at the University of Wyoming suing the Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) fraternity over its induction of a transgender student have been ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson to revoke their anonymity in order to proceed with the case.
The plaintiffs are also suing the inducted student, who is also enrolled at the University of Wyoming.
The names of the plaintiffs were revealed Thursday, April 20, to be Jaylyn Westenbroek, Hannah Holtmeier, Allison Coghan, Grace Choate, Madeline Ramar, and Megan Kosar in the amended complaint.
The most recent filing also strips the anonymity of the defendant, Artemis Langford, who was previously referred to under the pseudonym “Terry Smith.”
None of the plaintiffs are from the state of Wyoming. Two are from Colorado, while the others are from Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Virgina.
Originally, the complaint was filed by seven plaintiffs, yet only six names were listed in the amendment.
In March of this year, students affiliated with the UW chapter of KKG filed a lawsuit against the sorority. The document states the plaintiffs “seek to prevent the transformation of their intimate living arrangements and their social organization—without any change in the sorority’s legal documents—into a co-ed organization that admits men and women.”
The plaintiffs filed the motion to proceed anonymously on March 27, 2023.
“Given the sensitive facts involved in this case, as well as the ‘strong likelihood’ that this lawsuit will lead to threats and harassment, Plaintiffs’ ask this Court for leave to proceed anonymously,” the motion said.
Their request was denied by Johnson, who ruled that “Plaintiffs’ names are not highly sensitive or personal.”
Plaintiffs are also suing for damages, claiming the, “Sorority itself has also been damaged by Defendant Rooney and the other members of the Fraternity Council. Their violations of fiduciary duty have caused the sorority chapter at the University of Wyoming to lose significant membership in less than six months. With only ten signed housing contracts for the next academic year, the sorority house at the University of Wyoming will close and then the college chapter itself will fold.”
The amended complaint also states, “Artemis Langford is not a woman as that word has been adopted and understood by Kappa Kappa Gamma for the past 150 years. Artemis Langford is not an adult female human being. Artemis Langford would not have been eligible for membership in Kappa Kappa Gamma in 1870, nor would he have been eligible during any subsequent time since Kappa’s founding. Artemis Langford is not eligible for Kappa membership today.”
“The allegations in the complaint are horrendous and baseless and Ms. Langford looks forward to letting the public know the full story when that time comes,” said Rachel Berkness, Artemis Lanford’s attorney from Freeburg Law, on behalf of Langford.
The plaintiffs are also seeking monetary damages to compensate for defendants’ wrongful acts.
The KKG chapter on the UW campus declined to comment.
The University of Wyoming Police Department additionally told the Branding Iron that neither the Chief, nor any other officer, would comment on safety concerns or the issue itself. They referred questions on the subject to the Department of Institutional Communications.
