REUTERS/Bing Guan
Two Kappa Kappa Gamma alumni who supported a lawsuit to get a trans member kicked out of the sorority have been ousted by the national organization. The women, Patsy Levang and Cheryl Tuck-Smith, used a sorority contact list to fundraise for the lawsuit, which sought to expel the University of Wyoming’s chapter’s first trans woman, according to a letter from the organization’s standards director. (A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in August.) The women also identified themselves as Kappa members in multiple articles about the case without the sorority’s permission, violating its media policy, the letter states. Also, Standards Director Jessica Coffield wrote, the sorority’s human dignity policy requires members to “promote integrity, respect and regard for others, and appreciation for the worth of all individuals.” The alumnus’ conduct and comments, she said, “evince clear and deliberate violations of this policy.”
Both women strongly denied having violated sorority policy. In a press release issued by the right-wing Independent Women’s Forum, Levang said she was “saddened” by the decision but “will not be quiet about the truth.” Tuck-Smith said her dismissal “simply spurs me on to educate others about the dangers of DEI.”
A spokesperson for Kappa Kappa Gamma said the sorority could not comment on internal processes but that, regarding the lawsuit, “a federal judge carefully examined every aspect of the plaintiffs’ allegations and ruled to dismiss this case—affirming a private organization’s right to choose their members.”