For almost three years, a University of Wyoming sorority has been the unlikely epicenter of a national battle over belonging. On Friday, a federal judge dismissed, for the second and likely final time, a lawsuit by several Kappa Kappa Gamma sisters seeking to block Artemis Langford, a transgender woman, from their chapter.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson’s 35-page ruling not only rejected the plaintiffs’ claims of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract, but also declared that Kappa, as a private nonprofit, has the right to define “woman” on its own terms. “In short, we are required to leave Kappa alone,” Johnson wrote.

A case that would not end

The lawsuit began in March 2023, when seven sorority members claimed Langford’s admission violated Kappa’s governing documents. They alleged procedural irregularities, from late notice of a vote to the use of a Google form instead of the official sorority software, and insisted the word “woman” could only mean those assigned female at birth.

That argument failed once before. Johnson dismissed the original case in August 2023, ruling that federal courts could not interfere with a sorority’s expressive right to include transgender women. When the 10th Circuit punted the case back on procedural grounds, the plaintiffs tried again, filing a second amended complaint in June. But Johnson’s ruling Friday dismissed the claims with prejudice, noting further amendments would be “futile”.

At the heart of the dispute was language. Plaintiffs argued that Kappa’s bylaws promised a single-sex environment. Johnson disagreed. Not only were the bylaws silent on the precise definition, but Kappa’s national leadership had long published statements clarifying that “woman” includes “individuals who identify as women.”

The sorority had even distributed a “Guide for Supporting Our LGBTQIA+ Members” in 2018, explicitly affirming trans inclusion. Plaintiffs’ reliance on President Donald Trump’s January executive order defining “woman” as an “adult human female” did little to move the court. Johnson said federal executive policy does not override private contracts.

The case turned a small chapter house in Laramie into a flashpoint for America’s broader conflict over gender identity. Conservative outlets seized on the plaintiffs’ claims, framing Langford’s membership as evidence of “woke overreach.” Advocates saw something else: a young woman seeking community, and a sorority affirming that sisterhood is grounded in gender identity, not birth assignment.

This legal fight also unfolded against a volatile national backdrop. The Trump administration’s Department of Education has sought to reinterpret Title IX, suggesting that admitting transgender women undermines the “single-sex” nature of sororities. But courts have recognized fraternities and sororities as exempt from Title IX’s reach, leaving their membership policies to their own governance.

Johnson leaned on that tradition of judicial restraint. His opinion echoed a long line of cases affirming that voluntary associations, from churches to civic clubs, have broad discretion over internal matters unless fraud or collusion is shown.

What the decision means

Friday’s ruling doesn’t just end one lawsuit; it affirms that private associations may evolve on their own terms, even in conservative corners of the country. For Kappa, that means its Wyoming chapter retains the authority to welcome members like Langford. For LGBTQ+ students, the decision represents a rare bright spot amid escalating state and federal efforts to curtail trans rights.

The plaintiffs still have one avenue: they can try to push for a bylaw change at Kappa’s biennial convention, the judge noted. But in court, at least for now, the matter is closed. The plaintiffs may appeal.