University of Kansas threatens transgender employee over bathroom use

University of Kansas officials threatened disciplinary action against a transgender employee for using the women’s restroom on campus.Janitor Siobhán Kirchstein told The Lawrence Times that she had been reported for violating Kansas’s strict bathroom law, which activists have described as the most aggressive anti-trans law in the country. The initial email to Kirchstein served as a warning that using a restroom designated for a sex other than the one assigned to an individual at birth now violated the law.“I wish to preface this email by acknowledging this is a sensitive matter and my intention in reaching out is to provide awareness of the report and the law, extend to you an opportunity to be heard, and if helpful, share resources,” wrote Katie Varner, director of employee relations at the University of Kansas.Related: Kansas anti-trans bathroom law leaves even state officials confused School officials declined to discuss the matter with the newspaper.The university said it had received a complaint about Kirchstein using a women’s restroom in Parker Hall. Kirchstein said she does not work in an area with single-stall restrooms available to all genders. She has used the women’s restroom on campus for years without incident, she told the newspaper, and has no intention of complying with the law.“I’ll stay until they basically fire me,” Kirchstein said. “If that’s what they want to do, that’s what I’ll do. But I have no intention of complying. No intention at all.”That termination could happen. Last year, before the new law went into effect, KU fired transgender student worker Anthony Alvarez for speaking to the press about the university’s change in gender-inclusive housing policies, The Lawrence Times reported.Kirchstein does not know who reported her. My immediate reaction was complete shock that anyone in the Kansas Geological Survey would do that to me in the first place,” Kirchstein said. “And then I was furious about it.”Re