Riley Gaines, an advocate for women’s sports and privacy issues, speaks during a news conference outside the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Denver. The “Save Sisterhood” demonstration and news conference were …DENVER — A half-dozen University of Wyoming sorority sisters took their fight over Kappa Kappa Gamma’s transgender policy to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and they weren’t alone.
The three-judge panel at Tuesday’s hearing focused initially on whether it had jurisdiction, asking May Mailman, lead counsel for the six sorority sisters, whether the plaintiffs had exhausted every avenue at the lower-court level before filing the appeal. The judges did wade into the “what is a woman” issue when questioning Natalie McLaughlin, attorney for Kappa Kappa Gamma, which was founded in 1870.
Judge McHugh countered: ““What if the organization adopted an interpretation that included cisgender men?”