Lawsuit over transgender woman in sorority goes to court

In March 2023, several women within the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority at the University of Wyoming sued the national sorority organization, including Mary Pat Rooney, president of the Fraternity Council; Kappa Kappa Gamma Building Co. and Langford.

The plaintiffs were seeking declaratory relief, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees. 

Following an amended complaint in which the plaintiffs added an additional defendant in April, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss in June 2023. U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson granted the motion to dismiss without prejudice on Aug. 25, 2023. 

Johnson granted the relief on First Amendment grounds, stating the sorority council’s decision to admit a transgender woman was within its First Amendment rights regarding freedom of expressive association. 

Johnson also doubled down on the fact that the sorority’s definition of a woman had remained unchanged since 2018. The judge also said any new definition to exclude transgender women would have to be implemented through the organization’s bylaw amendment process. 

The federal court in Wyoming effectively ruled that the sorority members were not entitled to a biological women’s-only sorority – despite the Kappa Kappa Gamma bylaws stating they are, in fact, entitled to a women’s-only sorority – because the word “woman” is subject to an individual’s own interpretation.

Since Johnson’s first motion to dismiss was granted in August 2023, the plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, but the appeal was struck down in July 2024 for lack of jurisdiction since the U.S. District Court in Wyoming had not issued a permanent decision. 

A nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C. called Independent Women’s Forum has continued to support the plaintiffs since the case was initially filed. An attorney working for the Independent Women’s Law Center, May Mailman, appealed the case in June 2024 on behalf of the plaintiffs, who include Hannah Holtmeier, Allison Coghan and Haley Rutsch.

In response, defendants filed another motion in February 2025 for the U.S. District Court in Wyoming to issue a deadline for the plaintiffs to amend their complaint. Johnson granted this motion and gave the plaintiffs 30 days to amend the complaint, to which they did. But the defendants then filed a motion to dismiss that complaint at the end of June 2025. 

Johnson granted the defendant’s June 2025 motion to dismiss with prejudice one month later in August. The plaintiffs filed an appeal with 10th Circuit again in September 2025.

The Independent Women’s Forum told The Center Square that it will be in Denver on Monday for the 10th Circuit proceedings.

Beth Parlato, the senior legal counsel of Independent Women's Law Center (part of the forum), told The Center Square that the organization is looking forward to Monday’s arguments and the opportunity for the women to make their case in front of a federal court.

“At its core, this case is about something remarkably simple: a women’s sorority should be for women," Parlato said. "The notion that an organization founded to provide sisterhood and community for women can redefine ‘woman’ to include a man and then require its female members to accept a male into the intimate spaces where they live, sleep, and change, is unconscionable,” 

The Independent Women’s Law Center said it hoped the court will allow the plaintiffs to move forward with their claims and have the opportunity to be heard. 

“They should not lose their rights to privacy, dignity, and the very sisterhood they were promised simply because Kappa’s leadership decided that the word ‘woman’ no longer has an objective meaning,” Parlato said.