1y ago

Judge dismisses lawsuit by sorority sisters who sought to block a transgender woman from joining

apnews.com Judge dismisses lawsuit by sorority sisters who sought to block a transgender woman from joining

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit contesting a transgender woman’s admission into a sorority at the University of Wyoming.

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit contesting a transgender woman’s admission into a sorority at the University of Wyoming, ruling that he could not override how the private, voluntary organization defined a woman and order that she not belong.

In the lawsuit, six members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority chapter challenged Artemis Langford’s admission by casting doubt on whether sorority rules allowed a transgender woman. Wyoming U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson, in his ruling, found that sorority bylaws don’t define who’s a woman.

The case at Wyoming’s only four-year public university drew widespread attention as transgender people fight for more acceptance in schools, athletics, workplaces and elsewhere, while others push back.

You're viewing a single thread.

37 comments

Worth noting that this was not a great leap - the judge didn't rule anything particularly interesting about trans rights, he simply said that freedom of association means you can't go to court to force a private organization to exclude someone.
- Exactly. I disagree strongly with the sorority's decision, but can/should we compel individuals to hang out with people they don't want to hang out with?
  If the group receives public money, it's a whole different situation
  
  I'm assuming that the majority of members are fine with this, otherwise they'd simply change their bylaws to exclude trans women (and probably get away with doing so for the same legal reason). These 6 members were probably the losers of some internal battle who went to court to try to get their way anyway and failed.
  
  Ah. This makes a whole lot more sense.
  I saw this story this morning and could not for the life of me figure out what had happened.
  None of it made sense until I saw your comment.
  
  otherwise they'd simply change their bylaws to exclude trans women (and probably get away with doing so for the same legal reason).
  I don't think that'd work. Which is why most of the laws we're seeing from shithole states target medical care or other things instead of outright banning them.
  Bostock v. Clayton County decided sexual orientation and gender identity fall within the Title VII of the Civil Rights act as under the protected class of "sex". This should decisively prevent anyone from outright discriminating against LGBT+ people, but we know how inventive conservatives get with oppressing others.
  
  This explanation certainly makes me feel the least concerned for the new sister, so I hope so!
  
  The sorority admitted the trans woman. This suit was filed by members of the sorority in an attempt to force the sorority to exclude her as a member. Are you sure you strongly disagree with the sorority's decision to admit a trans woman?
  
  Ah I didn't RTFA
  
  I disagree strongly with the sorority’s decision
  to not exclude the trans woman?
  can/should we compel individuals to hang out with people they don’t want to hang out with?
  of course not, but if the people who don't want to "hang out" with others only don't want to because of wilfully ignorant hate (in other words - for no good reason, and of course this isn't about not wanting to hang out this is about excluding and attempting to erase an entire group of people), it shouldn't be the person who they hate for no good reason who is excluded, but them.
  
  Agree on principle, but you simply can't make private organizations associate with someone they don't want to.
  Sure, I bet some of the members were fine with her joining, but they joined an organization with a decision making hierarchy, and have to abide by that leadership's vote/decision. If they don't like the decision they should leave, and join a more open group. (or work to remove the leadership and bring about the changes they want).
  In this case it sounds like the rules didn't bar her from joining so I don't get the case at all.
  Trans women are women, don't come at me like I'm a bigot.
  
  You're missing a key fact here: the sorority admitted her. This suit was by individual members trying to force the sorority to reverse their decision. This decision didn't establish new rights for trans people or affirm their existing rights, it affirmed the right of an organization to establish membership criteria that can't be overridden even by members of that organization.
  How this would go wrt gender/sex being federally protected classes is an interesting question, but hasn't been examined by this case. All this did was establish that these 6 hateful shitheads can't force the rest of the group to be hateful shitheads. Or, more accurately, it failed to establish that they can.
  
  You didn't read my comment till the end
  
  In all of these situations, replace trans woman with, say, black woman. Now how does it sound?
  
  Pretty shitty! What, are you trying to use a gotcha?
  You can't make private groups accept someone. It sucks, and results in some very distasteful scenarios.
  Employment or public groups? Very different.
  
  I think black women should be allowed in sororities even if individual members object. This is in keeping with the law that allows private organizations to associate freely under most circumstances but prevents discrimination based on federally protected classes.
  Idk, sounds pretty okay to me
  
  That was my point exactly. Can’t discriminate against protected classes.
  
  So you made the same point they did and added nothing.
  
  I mean, I'm pretty sure the Ku Klux Klan doesn't allow black women. They have the right to do that.
  
  Well, the ones who don't want to hang out with others are free to leave.
  
  Desegregation seems to have worked out better than segregation did for the affected minorities. Why wouldn't it be the same here?

37 comments