To preserve single-sex spaces, the Nebraska Legislature needs to vote YES on the Stand With Women Act, also known as Legislative Bill 89. I know this firsthand.
In 2021, when I rushed my sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming, I felt at home with the girls I met at the sorority house and the culture the sisters fostered. I found like-minded girls who shared my goals and could become lifelong friends.
But in 2022, things changed when my sorority sisters and I were forced to share a sorority house with an adult male without our consent. We were all just college girls who were promised a female-only sorority experience, and we were suddenly forced to share our private space with a male.
Initially, my sisters and I felt safe after the male student was not admitted into KKG during formal recruitment.
In reality, however, our sorority leadership was keeping members in the dark. They later forced us to vote again on his entrance into the house using our email address, instead of the usual anonymous vote. These scare tactics and bullying were effective, and KKG admitted him as a member of our sorority.
I eventually decided to do something about this experience. I explained how KKG’s president and membership chair dismissed my discomfort, while older sorority members pressured me and my peers, some of whom have histories of sexual assault by men, to accept the man.
This helped me connect with a group of KKG alumnae who felt the same. With their support, six KKG sisters and I sued the sorority leadership in March 2023, alleging they breached their duties by admitting a male, contrary to the bylaws that required KKG to be a women-only organization. We claimed that the leadership avoided key bylaws like the anonymous vote and the all-members vote.
When the lawsuit went public, I felt like everyone was watching me. But, despite the negative comments we received online, no one confronted us in person. A federal judge even dismissed our case, citing “the court will not define ‘woman’ today.”
I ended up transferring to the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, but I, along with my sisters, continue to share our story around the country, so no other sorority has to have the same experience.
I believe that everyone, male and female, deserves a safe space. A space where they can relax and open up to others who understand them. For me, that space was my sorority house.
And unfortunately, my story is not unique.
Across the country, women’s spaces and organizations are being challenged in ways that disregard the importance of biological reality. This issue is bigger than just one sorority. It’s about preserving the right of all women to have safe and private spaces, whether in locker rooms, sports, shelters, or student housing, and ensure equal opportunity in athletics.
I share my experience to qualify why it is so important to pass the Stand With Women Act. If passed into law, it would preserve women’s hard-earned rights and spaces. By defining common sex-based words – words like “woman” and “female” already used in 149 unique Nebraska state statutes – this bill will safeguard female opportunities and private spaces from attack by those who seek to manipulate the definition of words to achieve policies that lack public support.
Similar legislation just passed with bipartisan support in Alabama and Montana, and is already law in eight other states; and our leaders must support this bill and stand with the over 900,000 women and girls in Nebraska like myself to prevent us from having to defend our basic rights to our own spaces.
Hannah Holtmeier is an ambassador for Independent Women and a senior at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where she is a member of the Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
