by Tyler O’Neil
Kappa Kappa Gamma alumnae are suing the national sorority for changing its own rules to allow men to join, and a circuit court heard her case Monday.
“When Kappa tells you, we promise you a sisterhood of women, and a man shows up, that is the opposite. It is breaking the contract,” Allie Coghan, one of the plaintiffs, told the Daily Signal in an interview after oral arguments.
Coghan and four other University of Wyoming Kappa Kappa Gamma members sued the sorority in 2023 after it admitted a man who identified as transgender. They claimed the sorority’s leadership violated its fiduciary duty to members and breached its contract with members.
Judge Alan B. Johnson, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, had dismissed the case with prejudice in August 2025, ruling that the court “may not interfere with Kappa’s contractually valid interpretation of its own Bylaws.” He ruled that “nothing in the Bylaws or the Standing Rules requires Kappa to narrowly define the words ‘women’ or ‘woman’ to include only those individuals born with a certain set of reproductive organs.”
The sorority told the Daily Signal Tuesday that, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit Monday, it defended its “right as a private organization to interpret our bylaws.
“We will continue to vigorously defend against attempts by plaintiffs to use the judicial system to take away a private organization’s fundamental right to govern itself and cause lasting damage to our organization,” Kappa Kappa Gamma added. “We are confident the appellate court will uphold the decisive Wyoming federal court ruling and bring a swift resolution to this matter.”
For her part, Coghan told the Daily Signal she left the hearing more optimistic than after earlier proceedings, saying the judges asked tough questions of both sides and appeared willing to engage with the plaintiffs’ arguments.
Kappa Violated Its Own Rules
In the hearing, the plaintiffs noted that, even while Kappa Kappa Gamma altered its policy statement to allow men who identify as transgender in 2015, the sorority did not disclose the policy to Coghan and her sisters until November 2022.
“They did change in their bylaws the wording to include men who identify as women,” Coghan told the Daily Signal. “But where they went wrong is that they did not present it to the sorority, and they didn’t let members vote on it at convention.”
She described this move as out of keeping with Kappa Kappa Gamma’s standard procedures, which involve voting “on everything.”
Double Standards?
When asked if Kappa Kappa Gamma applied a double standard with the man who identifies as transgender, she said, “Kappa Kappa Gamma gave him so much more leeway than we ever got.”
When the chapter considered his membership, Coghan recalled the officers giving speeches that amounted to, “You don’t let this person in, then you’re transphobic, you don’t deserve to be here.”
“The officers that gave the speeches knocked on every single door in the sorority house, and asked for proof that you voted,” she said. “It was no longer anonymous, which voting is always anonymous.”
Kappa Kappa Gamma chapters require most members to live in the sorority house. Coghan told the Daily Signal that she requested permission to live outside the house, partly because she didn’t have access to kitchens and partly because she suffers from migraines. The chapter denied her requests.
Yet when the man who identified as transgender asked for an exception citing concerns about safety, he received permission.
“Kappa headquarters wanted to make sure that this person felt comfortable and at home, and they did not care that their female members were uncomfortable,” Coghan said.
Coghan also pointed to Tracy Nadzieja, a man who held leadership positions in the fraternity Sigma Pi at Arizona State University but who later identified as female. KKKG initiated him as an “alumna” and listed him in a leadership role. Nadzieja did not respond to a request for comment.
Coghan’s Motivation
When asked why she decided to sue the sorority, Coghan told the Daily Signal she was doing it to protect the next generation and her potential future daughters.
“I don’t think the next generation of women should have to fight for this, and if I don’t stand up now, then they’re going to have to,” she said.
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Tyler O’Neil is senior investigative reporter at the Daily Signal and the author of two books, “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center” and “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.”
Photo “Sorority Members” by Kappa Kappa Gamma University of Wyoming.
