Tennessee school bars student from graduation after she comes out as gay – the decision costs them $10,000

When Morgan Armstrong was 18, just a few months before her high school graduation, she made a social media post coming out as gay. The post caused far more controversy in her community than she probably expected. In quick succession, Tennessee Christian Preparatory School suspended Armstrong, prohibited her from attending graduation, and then found itself facing a lawsuit from its former student.

According to People, the case took nearly a year to resolve, but the Chancery Court for Bradley County finally issued its judgment on Monday, June 22. In its final ruling, the court ordered the school to pay $10,000 as part of a settlement agreement.

The situation escalated rapidly

In the original social media post that caused the controversy while she was still a senior, Armstrong shared photos of herself and her girlfriend kissing and holding hands, captioning the post, “cats outta the bag” on April 23. By May 19, 2025, she had already filed a lawsuit against her former high school.

The situation continued to escalate rapidly, and soon the story became national news. The Washington Post interviewed Armstrong during the controversy, where she said, “Everyone else gets to post their boyfriend or girlfriend. So just because I have a girlfriend and I’m a girl, why does that mean that I shouldn’t be able to?” she asked. “I love my girlfriend and I wanted to show it.”

In the legal dispute between Armstrong and the school, her suspension letter was included as part of the complaint. According to the letter, a school administrator informed Armstrong that she would no longer be allowed on campus or attend any future school events, including her May 10 graduation ceremony.

Armstrong’s complaint also alleged that Tennessee Christian Preparatory School “explicitly threatened to sabotage Morgan’s college admissions process and to withhold Morgan’s diploma.” The school reportedly argued that her social media posts had led to “disparaging remarks” being directed at the Christian institution.

The complaint further revealed that the school allegedly took issue with Armstrong sending private messages to fellow students encouraging them to support her post. According to court documents, the message read: “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 bc i have some ruthless trump supporting ‘jesus’ mfs on there.”

The parties agreed to disagree

Armstrong later argued that the private message was directed at her relatives rather than her school. In the lawsuit, Armstrong and her parents served as co-plaintiffs, seeking to have her suspension removed from her record and to prevent the school from interfering with her college opportunities.

Under the final agreement, both parties agreed to expunge the suspension from Armstrong’s record. The school also agreed not to make disparaging remarks about Armstrong to colleges, and Armstrong received a $10,000 payment.

Daniel Horwitz, an attorney representing Armstrong and her family, released a statement following the judgment, saying that schools are “not a place where any administrator should feel comfortable disciplining or threatening kids for being gay.” The school, meanwhile, issued its own statement, saying, “Both parties acknowledge that this disagreement remains unresolved and have mutually agreed to move forward.”