Tennessee Student Suspended for Coming Out Wins $10,000 in Settlement
After Morgan Armstrong came out on social media, she said her school suspended her and banned her from graduation.
A high school senior who sued her private Christian school more than a year ago after she says she was suspended for coming out on social media has won her case.
In 2025, Morgan Armstrong, who at the time was a graduating senior at Tennessee Christian Preparatory School in Cleveland, Tennessee, filed a lawsuit claiming that school officials had suspended her for the remainder of the school year after she posted about coming out and sending a message to friends asking for them to “like” the post because she had “Trump supporting Jesus” followers on the platform, according to local news station WSMV.
The school suspended her, banned her from graduation, and withheld her diploma, arguing that she had made a defamatory remark about those who went to the school, the station reports.
The lawsuit also alleged that the same officials said they would share negative comments with potential colleges and universities if Armstrong decided to speak about the school’s treatment of her, according to local station WTVC.
As of Monday, the case is now resolved with both sides disagreeing on Armstrong’s violation of school policy, but agreeing that her suspension be rescinded. The school is prohibited from making negative remarks about Armstrong.
Tennessee Christian Preparatory School must also pay Armstrong $10,000.
“School is a place where every student is entitled to feel welcome, accepted, and supported. It is not a place where any administrator should feel comfortable disciplining or threatening kids for being gay. We were proud to represent Morgan and her family in this righteous lawsuit, and we are thrilled to have prevailed on their behalf. We hope Morgan’s bravery will inspire others to stand up for themselves the way that she did,” Armstrong’s attorney Daniel Horowitz told WSMV.
