A Tennessee student is suing her high school for suspending her and withholding her diploma after coming out in a social media post.
Morgan Armstrong, a senior at Cleveland’s Tennessee Christian Preparatory School (TCPS), is taking her private school to court for a hostile reaction regarding a Facebook post on April 24.
After posting the photos, with the caption, “[C]at’s outta the bag,” Armstrong privately messaged her friends writing, “[G]o like and comment on my post guys bc if no one on my socials knew I was gay then they sure as hell do now so this is a big thing tbh, also I’m kinda scared about the facebook comments bc i have some ruthless trump supporting “jesus” mfs on there.”
In the days following the announcement, Armstrong and her family were called into the school for a meeting.
In the meeting, principal Kylie Machacek and head of schools Jared Tilley handed the family a document, informing Armstrong that she had been suspended after the school was made aware of the posts. According to the school’s disciplinary policies, first-time social media violations should typically result in a one-day school suspension, not the more severe punishment Armstrong received.
The school alleges that Armstrong’s post was a “disparaging remark reflecting people at Tennessee Christian.” Referring to the message, the suspension document states, “The comment reflected on the institution, faculty, staff, alumni, and students in the most negative possible way.” The letter banned her from campus and all school events, including graduation, with a threat to forward her posts to colleges if violations continued. If comments were aired about the school by Armstrong, TCPS also threatened to withhold her diploma.
Armstrong’s lawsuit against TCPS reacts most to how private messages, having been shared with and used by the school, were in no way referring to the school. Instead, the comment “referred to members of Morgan’s own family with whom she was connected on social media—people who, in Morgan’s view, profess but do not practice Christian principles of love, acceptance, and compassion.”
In the complaint filed in Bradley County Chancery Court this week, Armstrong’s representation also claims that this suspension was not due to a violation of the school’s social media policy but instead a manifestation of the institution’s homophobia. In the school’s most recent handbook, the Marriage, Gender and Sexuality section reads, “We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God. (Matt 15:18-20; I Cor 6:9-10.)”
The lawsuit requests that, should the school lose the case, they must expunge Armstrong’s suspension record, permit Armstrong to take the finals she was prevented from taking which tanked her grades, and that the court must forbid the withholding of her diploma and must forbid the school from “sabotaging” Armstrong’s college admissions process.
Reacting to the entire situation, Armstrong’s mother, Monica Armstrong, spoke with Tennessee news station WSMV: “I was shocked and then I went to anger. I’m not sure how they can legally threaten to withhold it because she speaks her truth.”
Standing with her family in a small protest across the street from the ceremony, Armstrong told WSMV, “It was difficult having to stand across the street knowing that the people I’ve grown up with for the last four years were able to walk across the stage and I wasn’t allowed to.”
In response to the situation and news coverage about the case, Tilley released a statement on behalf of the school, claiming that they have yet to be served with process for the lawsuit and expressed “deep disappointment over the inaccuracies contained in the alleged filing.” Tilley added that the school remains committed to delivering Armstrong’s diploma (despite the threats given to her in the suspension letter) and ended the statement writing, “We wish Morgan Armstrong the very best as she continues her academics in college.”