A former University of Kansas student employee who is transgender is suing the school for firing him for speaking to the media about policy changes affecting LGBTQ+ students.

Anthony Alvarez alleges in the lawsuit filed on Thursday that he was wrongfully terminated from his position as a proctor, which is similar to a resident assistant, for speaking to the media. The lawsuit notes that he spoke to the Kansas News Service, which is based at KCUR, when protesting the removal of a gender neutral bathroom and gender neutral housing assignments at Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall.

Attorney Barry R. Grissom, who is representing Alvarez, said in a news release that KU terminated Alvarez’s employment because he allegedly broke the university’s media policy. Grissom said the lawsuit asks the court to rule that the policy is unconstitutional for violating Alvarez’s First Amendment rights.

“A person cannot be required to shed constitutionally protected rights as a condition of their employment,” Grissom said in the release. “That is what happened here to Mr. Alvarez, and we look forward to his day in court to correct the injustice he faced.”

University officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Alvarez spoke to the Kansas News Service in February at a protest about the policy changes on KU’s Lawrence campus. At the time, Alvarez was a student employee. He’s still a student at KU.

According to the lawsuit, the university put Alvarez on probation in early March for allegedly breaking the media policy, which requires employees to direct media to their supervisor. The lawsuit argues Alvarez was not speaking on behalf of the university, but rather from his experience as a transgender person living at the scholarship hall.

The lawsuit also alleges the university told Alvarez he could appeal the probation within three business days, but the next day, he received a letter stating he was terminated from his position. The university gave Alvarez a week to vacate the scholarship hall, but he needed to schedule a move out time to be escorted through the building.

“Plaintiff incurred expenses associated with a truncated move-out and finding new living arrangements, as well as stress, pain and suffering,” the lawsuit said.

The university has not yet filed a legal response to the lawsuit.

Alvarez lived at Grace Pearson for three years. He said in February that when he applied to continue serving as a resident assistant at Grace Pearson for the 2025-26 school year, he was assigned to a different residence hall.

Alvarez said school officials told him that they didn’t believe he would enforce the new policies, and that he would be frustrated by them. He planned to turn down the job offer and move because he could not live and work in Grace Pearson.

“The whole reason I became an RA in the first place was to be in GP, because I love it so much. And that’s where all my friends are,” Alvarez said in February. “It doesn’t feel hyperbolic to call it a family.”

• Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga is a journalist at the Kansas News Service.