WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Two former sorority sisters are fighting back after being expelled from the organization following their public opposition to the group’s decision to allow gender-confused men to join.
Late last month, national collegiate sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) opted to expel from their ranks two University of Wyoming chapter alumnae, Cheryl Tuck-Smith and former Kappa Kappa Gamma National Foundation president Patsy Levang. Both women had been affiliated with the organization for more than 50 years.
The Independent Women’s Forum reported that KKG membership has been for women only since the organization’s founding in 1870, a requirement still upheld in its bylaws.
Last year, however, the sorority’s University of Wyoming chapter accepted a 6-foot-2, 21-year-old gender-confused man Artemis Langford as a member, sparking backlash and, ultimately, a lawsuit by former sorority members, The Blaze reported.
Both Levang and Tuck-Smith supported the April legal challenge, Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma, which claimed that KGG’s decision to welcome men who identify as women is “an unlawful abandonment of the Sorority’s requirement of single-sex membership.”
“An adult human male does not become a woman just because he tells others that he has a female ‘gender identity’ and behaves in what he believes to be a stereotypically female manner,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit sought to push the sorority to kick out Langford due to the fact that he is not a woman, a crucial requirement of membership. However, the challenge was dismissed in August, with the judge arguing that KKG doesn’t explicitly define the term “woman,” The Blaze noted.
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Effective October 29, the national organization severed ties with Tuck-Smith and Levang after advising them in September that their dismissal was “being considered” for alleged violations of the sorority’s standards.
Specifically, the KKG named “alleged violations of the Use of Membership Lists and Contact Information Policy, Internet Policy, Local Regional or National Media Policy, Social Media Guidelines, Speaking for the Fraternity Policy, and the Human Dignity Policy.”
In a statement released by the Independent Women’s Forum, Levang said, “My heart was saddened when the current six council members voted me out.”
Regardless, she promised she “will not be quiet about the truth.”
For her part, Tuck-Smith said, “I was hurt when I was terminated as a member of KKG, but also disturbed that KKG has become a political tool rather than an organization that promotes women.”
She said her removal from the organization “simply spurs me on to educate others about the dangers of DEI, which in reality does not support diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Allie Coghan, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and a Kappa Kappa Gamma alumna, told “FOX & Friends First” on Monday that the dismissal of the alumnae was “disappointing,” and argued that it was an instance of “retaliation” for standing up for women.
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“So sad to hear that they didn’t want to see these brave women sticking up for us and supporting us,” she said. “Where are women supposed to go if a women’s organization isn’t going to stick up for itself?”
In a written statement released to media outlets, Kappa Kappa Gamma said it doesn’t “share information publicly about policy violations that may result in disciplinary action.”
May Mailman, a lawyer with the Independent Women’s Law Center, told Fox that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is now reviewing the case, which will hinge on the definition of womanhood itself, a question that has become a major part of the national conversation in the midst of rampant transgender ideology.
“This is something that we don’t expect to be a very difficult legal brief to write,” Mailman said, according to Fox. “But we do hope that the 10th Circuit understands reality, has seen women around them, can spot one, understands what one is.”