A graduating senior at a Cleveland, Tennessee, high school announced on social media she was in a relationship with another young woman, and days later, she was suspended, banned from campus and excluded from participating in graduation, a lawsuit said.
Morgan Armstrong and her parents filed the complaint Monday in Bradley County Chancery Court against Tennessee Christian Preparatory School — a private school with annual tuition of about $10,500.
She posted photos April 23 of her kissing and posing with her girlfriend, the lawsuit shows. She then privately messaged some of her friends about the post.
“Go 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,” the message said, adding that she has some “ruthless” Facebook friends who follow President Donald Trump and Jesus. She referred to the friends using an acronym for a common obscenity.
Afterward, Armstrong was allegedly hauled into a Tennessee Christian Preparatory School administrator’s office and presented with a suspension letter with an attached screenshot of that message.
The letter, which was attached to the lawsuit, claimed Morgan posted a disparaging remark on Instagram reflecting people at Tennessee Christian, and her vulgar and disrespectful comment produced the wrong perception of what the school is and what it represents.
“The comment reflected on the institution, faculty, staff, alumni and students in the most negative way possible,” the letter said, according to the lawsuit.
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The school allegedly told Armstrong in her suspension letter she would receive her diploma through the mail on June 15, and she was not allowed on campus or at any school events.
“Morgan will not comment about the school or people associated with the school,” the document said. “If online slander continues, records of posts and messages will be forwarded to colleges and universities as part of a comprehensive student file.”
If Armstrong didn’t adhere to those rules, according to the suspension letter, she would not receive her diploma at all.
But she never posted any disparaging remarks about people at her school or her school in general, the lawsuit said.
Her post using the obscenity to refer to some of her Facebook friends referred to members of her own family who, in Armstrong’s view, profess but do not practice Christian principles of love, acceptance and compassion, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit contends Tennessee Christian didn’t suspend her because of the post but because she announced publicly she was gay and numerous people associated with the school are homophobic.
A reporter emailed Head of School Jared Tilley a series of questions Wednesday evening, including whether LGBTQ+ students were allowed to be open about their identity on and off campus based on the school’s handbook, rules and beliefs. Tilley did not respond by a Thursday deadline.
In a student handbook attached to the lawsuit and found online, the school says it believes any form of sexual immorality — which it defines as adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest and use of pornography — is sinful and offensive to God, and marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman.
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Armstrong was a good student who passed all of her classes, the lawsuit said, and she was a standout basketball player at Tennessee Christian Preparatory School. She planned to attend college, but she was not allowed to take her final exams, which dropped her grade point average.
In the suspension letter, the school explicitly threatened Armstrong about sabotaging the college admissions process or withholding her diploma to ensure she would not speak up, the lawsuit said.
Through an alleged breach of contract, the school deprived Armstrong of the ability to attend school, events and a graduation her family paid for through tuition, according to the lawsuit. The parents continue to be charged tuition.
The Armstrong family has requested the court order Tennessee Christian to hand over her diploma and forbid any sabotage to her college admissions process, to allow her to take the final exams she was prevented from taking and to expunge her suspension record and disciplinary violation.
They also requested all monetary losses that arose from this situation, but the amount of damages was not specified.
Attorneys Daniel Horwitz and Sarah Martin, who work at a Nashville firm that focuses on First Amendment law and speech defense, are representing the family pro bono.
“School is a place where every student is entitled to feel welcome, accepted and supported,” Horwitz, Armstrong’s lead counsel, said in a news release. “It is not a place where any administrator should feel comfortable disciplining kids for being gay or threatening to sabotage their college admissions process.”
Contact Sofia Saric at ssaric@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.