The same sorority that allowed a transgender student to join its University of Wyoming chapter has now cleared the way for a transgender member to become national president—and some of the sisters have had enough.
Six alumnae have filed a federal lawsuit against Kappa Kappa Gamma, accusing the Ohio-based national sorority of admitting biological males who identify as female to the 154-year-old women’s organization in violation of its bylaws, which specify that a “new member shall be a woman.”
Kappa touched off a national debate in 2022 by accepting Artemis Langford, a male-to-female transgender student, as a member of its Wyoming chapter, but the complaint said that behind the scenes, the sorority had previously fast-tracked a transgender member through the alumnae leadership ranks.
Tracy Nadzieja, a Superior Court judge in Maricopa County, Arizona, was accepted as an alumna initiate in 2020 and elected to the position of district director “without voters being informed by the Fraternity Council or the Candidate that the Candidate is a man,” the lawsuit states.
“The Candidate [Ms. Nadzieja] has currently applied for, and is being considered for, a position in leadership to be voted on through an on-line election in April 2024,” the complaint reads. “This position could include being elected to Fraternity Council or even president of KKG. Most members remain unaware that the Candidate is a man.”
If elected to the top slot, Ms. Nadzieja would in all likelihood become the first male-born president of Kappa and perhaps any national sorority.
May Mailman, director of the Independent Women’s Law Center, which filed the Jan. 25 lawsuit on behalf of the alumnae, said Ms. Nadzieja’s rapid rise illustrates the commitment of Kappa’s leadership to the gender-identity cause.
“I think it’s relevant in the sense that it shows a complete abdication by Kappa of its mission of promoting, advancing and recognizing women,” Ms. Mailman told The Washington Times. “It just shows a pattern of behavior: that this individual in Wyoming is not a one-off, that Kappa really is devastating its own mission sort of systematically.”
The complaint now before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio comes with Kappa Kappa Gamma facing a membership revolt over its embrace of the gender-identity movement, but the sorority isn’t backing down.
In November, two 50-year-plus members — former KKG National Foundation President Patsy Levang and Cheryl Tuck-Smith — were kicked out of the organization for supporting the University of Wyoming sisters fighting the sorority’s decision to accept Ms. Langford.
Ms. Levang said that as a former foundation president, “I felt obligated to stand up for the young women in Wyoming.”
“The current leadership in Kappa has deliberately engaged in a campaign to undermine the Bylaws of Kappa which harms not only these young women, but the entire organization,” she said in a Jan. 26 statement. “I’m not surprised that they also disregarded the value of lifetime membership and my 56 years of dedication by sending me a removal letter.”
Kappa Kappa Gamma said she was being considered for dismissal for violations of “the Use of Membership Lists and Contact Information Policy, Internet Policy, Local Regional or National Media Policy, Social Media Guidelines, Speaking for the Fraternity Policy, and the Human Dignity Policy,” according to a Sept. 12 memo posted by the Independent Women’s Forum.
The sorority has seen its dues-paying alumnae membership drop by 48% since 2020, while more than 1,368 members have signed a petition calling for the council to preserve its role as a single-sex organization, according to the complaint.
The Washington Times has reached out to Kappa and Ms. Nadzieja for comment.
Both Ms. Levang and Ms. Tuck-Smith are plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit against the sorority, along with current alumnae members Susan Jennings, Margo Knorr, Karen Pope and Ann Witt.
’Prioritizing men over women’
The filing traced the sorority’s shift on transgender membership to 2015, when the KKG Fraternity Council released a position statement saying that “Kappa Kappa Gamma is a single gender organization comprised of women and individuals who identify as women.”
Kappa Kappa Gamma uses the term “fraternity” in its official name because it was founded in 1870, 30 years before women-only Greek societies took up the name “sorority.” Kappa is one of the nation’s largest sororities, with 260,000 initiated members and 140 chapters in the U.S. and Canada.
In 2018, the sorority issued a “Guide for Supporting LGBTQIA+ Members,” but neither the guide nor the position statement was presented to the membership for review, debate, approval or a vote. Changes to the bylaws must receive a two-thirds vote at a convention that is held every two years.
“The Fraternity Council’s current position that the meaning of the governing documents has change — without any involvement from the members — is deceptive, unreasonable, and arbitrary and merely serves as an attempt to justify their fraudulent and misleading actions,” the complaint states. “It is evident that Fraternity Council conspired to deceive and conceal their actions from the membership.”
The sorority has defended its decision to admit male-to-female transgender students, saying “Kappa’s strength is our diverse membership, composed of amazing women who bring a variety of life experiences and viewpoints to Kappa Kappa Gamma.”
“Since 2015 our position statements have made clear we are an organization composed of women and individuals who identify as women,” Kappa said in the Aug. 29 statement. “Further, all 26 organizations that are members of the National Panhellenic Conference have policies, like Kappa, that allow their collegiate chapters to admit transgender women.”
The sorority notched a legal victory in August, when a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging Ms. Langford’s admission to the Wyoming chapter and ruled that the bylaws fail to define what a woman is.
The Independent Women’s Law Center, which represents the half-dozen University of Wyoming students who sued, filed an appeal in December with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Artemis Langford, who does not live in the sorority house, plans to remain a member of Kappa.
“I’m never gonna give up on organizations, issues and people that I love,” Ms. Langford told WyoFile in an Aug. 23 profile. “I’m proud to be a member of my chapter and I don’t think I’ll ever regret being a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.”
It’s no surprise Kappa pressured the Wyoming chapter to initiate a biological male who identifies as trans when they accepted Tracy Nadzieja, male who identifies as trans, as an alumnae initiate at Arizona State and featured him on Kappa’s Facebook page. Sororities are for… https://t.co/Fd1W7fYHyP pic.twitter.com/MXUMa0NWPa
— Michelle Parker (@MichelleNash45) July 18, 2023
Ms. Nadzieja may be new to Kappa, but not to Greek life. The former Tom Nadzieja was a Sigma Pi pledge at Arizona State University and remained active as a volunteer in the men’s fraternity alumni network after graduating in 1989 and becoming a lawyer.
Ms. Nadzieja said she stayed involved with Sigma Pi even after transitioning to female after graduation, but decided to apply for membership in Kappa in 2020, calling the sorority “really a special group.”
“It’s such an amazing organization,” Ms. Nadzieja said on the Greek University Fraternity Foodie podcast in 2020. “They made me feel so welcome from day number one. This is the undergraduates, this is the local alumna, this is the national office. Everybody has made me feel extraordinarily welcome.”
She added that “they knew what my background was with Sigma Pi, and the different roles that I served for them, so they went out of their way to find a role for me right away.”
Ms. Tuck-Smith said that “Kappa Kappa Gamma has successfully promoted women and high standards for 150 years.”
“It is incomprehensible that current leadership would discard that success by prioritizing men over women,” she said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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