The theme was solidarity and sisterhood with “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister blaring in the background.
With an air of confidence, but hardly a party atmosphere, other empowering anthems followed: “Girl On Fire” by Alicia Keys, “Miss Independent” by Kelly Clarkson, Train’s “Soul Sister” and the defiantly determined “Roar” by Katy Perry.
While Tuesday’s gathering on the steps of the Byron White U.S. Courthouse in Downtown Denver was a celebration of women and the rights of six University of Wyoming Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority members suing to keep their organization for women only, they would’ve rather been just about anyplace else.
“A root canal would be more pleasurable than getting men out of a sorority,” said May Mailman, lead attorney for the Independent Women’s Forum, which is handling the case for the Kappa sisters.
Mailman was fresh out of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals making oral arguments in the UW sorority members’ lawsuit challenging the sorority for allowing a transgender member not only into their local chapter, but into their sorority house — their home.
‘It’s Not Right, It’s Not Fair’
For the members who live in the sorority house, it’s their home, said Hanna Holtmeier, one of the six UW KKG plaintiffs.
“I never thought I’d have to fight for what a woman is,” she told the crowd gathered on the steps for a press conference after the oral arguments.
When she and other members complained about a biological male being in the house, Holtmeier said that instead of being listened to and having their concerns taken seriously, they were persecuted.
“I was ignored, belittled and seen as a bigot simply for saying that I should be asked to consent before having a man forced onto me and my sorority sisters,” she said. “It’s not right, it’s not fair.”
Her concerns were echoed by fellow plaintiffs and Kappa sisters Maddie Ramar and Jaylyn Westenbroek.
Ramar said that there have been women in the house who have been sexually assaulted, and then having a man in the house “strips us of that security” they should have in their own home.
Westenbroek was even more direct, saying the sorority sisters are pawns for the national organization’s “woke agenda,” and that since speaking out they’ve been pressured to back off.
“We were gaslighted into believing we were the problem,” she said. “We were told to leave if we were uncomfortable.”
Not Alone
The women aren’t alone in their fight to keep sororities as places for women. Riley Gaines, a former champion collegiate swimmer, has become the face of the movement to keep women’s sports for biological women.
Gaines said she feels a connection with the UW sorority sisters because, although she was never in a sorority, she was captain of a 40-member women’s swim team. Both are groups with strong bonds of sisterhood, she said.
“We are the same. The sisterhood we were promised is the same,” she said, adding that after learning of the KKG fight, “how could I not get involved with these girls?”
Cheryl Tuck-Smith delivered her message with passion at Tuesday’s press conference, saying she was a Kappa Kappa Gamma member for more than 50 years before she was kicked out for supporting the UW women.
What’s on the line in the outcome of the KKG sisters’ lawsuit is monumental, she said.
“This is the civil rights issue of our lifetime,” Tuck-Smith said. “The debunking of what a woman is has never been questioned, and we cannot go forward willy-nilly defining woman as anything that hits the mind of the political agenda of the moment. The current leadership in Kappa has taken on that agenda.”
Frustratingly Simple
While Mailman and the sorority plaintiffs were confident in their position, they admitted some frustration after Tuesday’s oral arguments. That’s because the judges on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals seemed to be looking for a way to deny their appeal.
“The court did not want to address what is a woman because they know what it is,” Mailman said. “The court was trying to find small reasons to not hear this case.”
She said “the core of this case” is simple: “When bylaws say that an organization is for women, (isn’t) that obvious? And when you secretly — secretly and dishonestly — try and change that, is that wrong?”
She said it’s appropriate for women only to be allowed in some spaces, and the same is true for men. When those lines blur “it is not OK. Americans are not in favor, and we shouldn’t have to ask for it, we shouldn’t have to argue for it.
“Women’s spaces should be protected, period.”
Gaines concluded the event by praising the parents of the six UW sorority sisters for raising “strong daughters” and making it clear that “the stand we have taken is pro-woman, not anti-anything.
“These girls were promised sisterhood, but instead Kappa Kappa Gamma gave them the brother they never wanted.”
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
