MSNBC host Yasmin Vossoughian on Wednesday praised a transgender college student who recently won a lawsuit against a sorority chapter at the University of Wyoming.
A federal district court ruled in August that Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) could allow Artemis Langford, a man who identifies as a woman, to live in its sorority house. Several sorority sisters sued the organization in March after Langford was allowed to join the chapter, saying they often caught Langford silently staring at them and that at times he appeared to be aroused.
“The case has drawn widespread attention as schools continue to be a front line in these fights for LGBTQ rights and for the very brave woman at the center of it all is joining me now,” Vossoughian said. “It takes a very brave and unique person to do this, to be a first, in a situation like this, and then to continue on. What makes you want to stay with everything you’ve been through?” (RELATED: Biological Male Blamed ‘Transphobia’ After College Sorority Kicks Him Out)
Artemis Langford, a trans woman whose sorority admission was contested by fellow members, speaks out after a judge dismissed the lawsuit:
“Even if there’s one person out there who feels that their identity is being attacked… it’s OK to be who they are.” https://t.co/rXELtmn53p pic.twitter.com/bcHMH8hIlw
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 5, 2023
“I want people to know that everything that they’ve experienced, that I’m certainly not the first trans person to be attacked by elements in the media, to be used and unfortunately I don’t think it’ll be the last, but I want people to know that it’s never ok for that kind of scrutiny on a person just because of their identity, just because I’m trans,” Langford said after the court decision.
A complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming in August alleged that Langford had been “watching” girls undress around the sorority house, according to Cowboy State Daily. The complaint also noted that the communal bathrooms did not lock, and that the second floor bathrooms did not have a private undressing area.
“One sorority member walked down the hall to take a shower, wearing only a towel. She felt an unsettling presence, turned, and saw Mr. Smith watching her silently,” the complaint reads.
The complaint also alleges that “Mr. Smith has, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection visible through his leggings.”