A federal judge in Cheyenne has ruled that 7 women can’t remain anonymous while they’re suing to challenge the induction of a transgender woman into their sorority at the University of Wyoming.
U-S District Judge Alan Johnson has given the 7 members of Kappa Kappa Gamma until April 20 to refile their lawsuit with their real names.
The women identified themselves in the suit only as “Jane Does,” arguing they need anonymity for privacy and safety reasons, including a likelihood of threats and harassment due to the lawsuit.
Judge Johnson ruled that they didn’t meet the legal standard for anonymity, saying “The bottom line is this. Lawsuits are public events, and the public, especially here, has an important interest in access to legal proceedings. Plaintiffs may not levy serious accusations without standing behind them.”
The transgender woman is identified in the lawsuit only by the pseudonym “Terry Smith,” and Judge Johnson is allowing that to stand. The 21-year old Smith doesn’t live in the Kappa Kappa Gamma house on Sorority Row because of housing commitments elsewhere,
An attorney for the women declined to comment to reporters on Johnson’s order, saying he will file a court document responding to it soon. Kappa Kappa Gamma officials also declined to comment, but Executive Director Kari Kittrell Poole has said previously the lawsuit contains numerous false allegations.
The lawsuit asks Johnson to declare Smith’s sorority membership void and to award unspecified damages it says should reflect the local chapter’s decline in financial stability and donations because of Smith’s induction last fall.
In the lawsuit filed March 27, the women accuse Kappa Kappa Gamma of breaking its own rules in admitting Smith. They claim not only did the Kappa Kappa Gamma national office violate its own rules, it pressured the U-W chapter to break them, too.
The lawsuit says Smith’s presence in the sorority house made some of the 44 members living there uncomfortable, alleging Smith would sit on a couch for hours while “staring at them without talking,”