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Days before Morgan Armstrong was set to graduate from Tennessee Christian Preparatory School, she announced on Instagram and Facebook that she is gay and in a relationship with another woman.
Armstrong, 18, said the late-April decision to come out online — using the caption “cats outta the bag” — happened spontaneously.
“Everyone else gets to post their boyfriend or girlfriend,” Armstrong said. “So just because I have a girlfriend and I’m a girl, why does that mean that I shouldn’t be able to? ... I like the pictures, I love my girlfriend and I wanted to show it.”
But less than a week later, Armstrong was summoned into a meeting with Tennessee Christian’s top administrators and banned from the campus and school events — including her own graduation, she alleges in a lawsuit filed May 19 against the school near Chattanooga. The school also threatened to withhold her diploma and share records of her social media posts with prospective colleges and universities if she spoke out about the school or people associated with it, the lawsuit alleges.
The suit accuses Tennessee Christian of violating its disciplinary policy with its punishment of Armstrong. It asks a Tennessee judge to order the school to allow the senior to take her final exams, expunge her suspension record and rule that the school’s maximum discipline for Armstrong according to its policy is a one-day in-school suspension.
“In its haste to suspend Morgan for being gay, the Defendant violated its own Disciplinary Policy and summarily imposed a ‘Long-term suspension (more than 10 days)’ instead,” the lawsuit reads.
“There is no circumstance in which this school would have authority to withhold her diploma or to sabotage her college admissions process as part of its policy,” Daniel Horwitz, Armstrong’s lawyer, told The Washington Post. “Those are not permitted punishments under the handbook here.”
Jared Tilley, head of schools for Tennessee Christian, pushed back against the claims made in Armstrong’s lawsuit, saying in a statement that the school has already mailed her diploma. “The school denies said allegations in full, particularly the assertion that Morgan Armstrong’s diploma is being withheld. Morgan Armstrong’s diploma has been mailed,” Tilley said.
Read the rest here MSN
Armstrong, 18, said the late-April decision to come out online — using the caption “cats outta the bag” — happened spontaneously.
“Everyone else gets to post their boyfriend or girlfriend,” Armstrong said. “So just because I have a girlfriend and I’m a girl, why does that mean that I shouldn’t be able to? ... I like the pictures, I love my girlfriend and I wanted to show it.”
But less than a week later, Armstrong was summoned into a meeting with Tennessee Christian’s top administrators and banned from the campus and school events — including her own graduation, she alleges in a lawsuit filed May 19 against the school near Chattanooga. The school also threatened to withhold her diploma and share records of her social media posts with prospective colleges and universities if she spoke out about the school or people associated with it, the lawsuit alleges.
The suit accuses Tennessee Christian of violating its disciplinary policy with its punishment of Armstrong. It asks a Tennessee judge to order the school to allow the senior to take her final exams, expunge her suspension record and rule that the school’s maximum discipline for Armstrong according to its policy is a one-day in-school suspension.
“In its haste to suspend Morgan for being gay, the Defendant violated its own Disciplinary Policy and summarily imposed a ‘Long-term suspension (more than 10 days)’ instead,” the lawsuit reads.
“There is no circumstance in which this school would have authority to withhold her diploma or to sabotage her college admissions process as part of its policy,” Daniel Horwitz, Armstrong’s lawyer, told The Washington Post. “Those are not permitted punishments under the handbook here.”
Jared Tilley, head of schools for Tennessee Christian, pushed back against the claims made in Armstrong’s lawsuit, saying in a statement that the school has already mailed her diploma. “The school denies said allegations in full, particularly the assertion that Morgan Armstrong’s diploma is being withheld. Morgan Armstrong’s diploma has been mailed,” Tilley said.
Read the rest here MSN
