The nationwide battle over the places where transgender people may belong has flared at the University of Wyoming, where a lawsuit filed by seven sorority members challenges the induction of a transgender woman into their local chapter.
The woman, identified only by the pseudonym "Terry Smith" in the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, made residents of the Kappa Kappa Gamma house uncomfortable in part by sitting on a common-area couch for hours and staring at them without talking, the lawsuit alleges.
"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 lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit against the national Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, its national council president and Smith claims national sorority officials pressured the local chapter to violate sorority rules, including those for voting to induct new members.
The lawsuit asks for a judge to declare Smith's sorority membership void and to award unspecified damages. The damages should reflect the local chapter's decline in financial stability and donations because of Smith's induction last fall, the lawsuit alleges.
Like Smith, the seven women suing are anonymous, referred to in the lawsuit as Jane Does I-XII.
Smith did not immediately return an email message Thursday seeking comment. She had no attorney listed in court records.
The lawsuit "contains numerous false allegations," but the...
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