The sanctity of womanhood emerged the victor this past week, but it wasn’t here in the “home of the brave.” It was a collective of Scottish women who stood up against the madness of transgenderism before the U.K. Supreme Court — and won.
The judges found, rightly, that biological sex determines womanhood. Our fellow women across the pond took on responsibilities and leadership positions they likely never imagined taking up. Now we must call on American women to do the same.
A battle is unfolding on college campuses, one that reaches beyond the fight to keep biological males out of women’s sports. It is a struggle for the survival of another intrinsic domain to American culture: women’s sororities.
In the eyes of the general public, a sorority is an exclusive social club for female college or university students who sometimes live together. Really, it is more than that. It is a lifelong bond between women that requires all the intimacies and loyalties of sisterhood, with a legacy and culture that are thoroughly American. The first fraternity emerged in 1776, that impressive year of our nation’s founding.
The 19th-century rise of female enrollment in American higher education prompted the creation of a refuge where young women could thrive in their personal, academic, and philanthropic endeavors: the first women’s fraternity. (The term “sorority” wasn’t invented to distinguish these all-women societies until the late 1800s.) For nearly 200 years, sororities have allowed collegiate women to develop close bonds and leadership skills in an environment unencumbered by male dominance. Women’s experiences, intuited by our divinely inspired biology and shaped by society, demand these distinct spaces. But that inherently American invention and promise of sisterhood is under siege.
Most Americans have not heard of Patsy Levang, but her courage demands our attention. A 50-year veteran of one of the oldest women’s fraternities, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Levang was ousted from her sorority for daring to defend its sisterhood from the madness of transgender ideology. Now, she’s a fierce advocate of protecting these vital women’s spaces, and her story exposes a troubling trend destroying female-only environments under the guise of inclusivity. The problem is, Levang needs a bigger army.
Levang’s fight began at the University of Wyoming, where Kappa Kappa Gamma’s chapter admitted Artemis Langford, a 6-foot-2-inch biological male identifying as a woman, in 2022. Six sisters sued, alleging Langford’s presence, marked by predatory and disturbing behaviors like staring at the young ladies post-shower, violated the women-only commitment in their bylaws. Levang, a former national foundation president, supported them, only to be expelled alongside fellow alumna Cheryl Tuck-Smith for speaking out.
“My heart was saddened,” Levang said in an interview with Fox News, “but I will not be quiet about the truth.” Her defiance sparked Levang v. Kappa Kappa Gamma, a lawsuit challenging Langford’s admission. A federal judge dismissed the case (allowing refiling), which is a cause for serious alarm: sororities are now an endangered species, thereby disrupting the ecosystem of American culture.
The roots of this crisis in goodness and truth trace back to Harvard University, of course. In 2016, the institution, ironically founded to train Puritan clergymen under the motto Christo et Ecclesiae (“For Christ and Church”), targeted single-sex sororities and fraternities, demanding inclusivity by admitting opposite-sex members under the threat of or losing campus recognition.
Harvard rescinded the policy in 2020 after the Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton County ruling, but the damage of Harvard’s influence rippled nationwide. By 2018, three major sororities caved, among them Harvard’s Kappa Alpha Theta, which disaffiliated to become Theta Zeta Xi, admitting men to survive. Harvard’s clout set a precedent, pressuring other universities to follow. At Wyoming, Kappa’s leadership didn’t amend bylaws transparently to include Langford; they stretched the definition of “woman,” sidestepping democratic process.
Policy is starting to respond, but government is slow-moving and limited. On Jan. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order defining sex as an immutable male-female binary to safeguard women’s domains, from sports to sororities. On Feb. 5, he barred biological men who identify as women from women’s sports. Twenty-seven states have similar bans, recognizing biological differences in athletics. Yet sororities remain a quieter battleground, with less public outcry and fewer protections despite the parallel threat.
So, how can we reclaim these spaces? Congress should codify Title IX’s exemption for single-sex social groups, shielding sororities from university overreach. In the meantime, women must take immediate action similar to the way concerned parents have taken over their local school boards in recent years. Current members and alumnae have a duty to obtain leadership roles within their local chapters, alumnae groups, and respective national headquarters, as well as umbrella organizations such as the National Panhellenic Council. This requires mass coordination.
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Women must join campaigns such as the one launched last week by the Independent Women’s Forum. Sorority women should also organize one or more networks based on campaigns such as IWF’s, and include women who may never have joined a sorority but are willing to fight in the common cause of protecting women’s spaces. These networks should facilitate forums where women can coordinate on their needs to advance the cause. The grassroots are where we will take up this mantle of liberty.
America needs us, women. Without action, we risk losing our culture to an ideology antithetical to reality — and with it the goodness, truth, and beauty that made our nation great.
Dr. Carol M. Swain is the author of Diversity Without Discrimination: How to Promote a Culture of Unity in a Post-DEI/Affirmative Action World and founder of Real Unity Training Solutions. Follow her on X at @carolmswain and Facebook and Instagram at @drcarolmswain. Website: bethepeoplenews.com
Corinne Murdock is a district director in the Texas legislature and will join the Ohio Attorney General’s Office as senior special projects director this summer. She is a former reporter for The Daily Wire, AZ Free News, and Tennessee Star. She is also a Hillsdale College graduate (’19).
