Tennessee school to pay gay student $10,000 after barring her from graduation

A Tennessee Christian school will pay a former student $10,000 (£7,601) after suspending her and banning her from graduation when she came out as gay on social media.

The settlement ends a legal battle between Morgan Armstrong and Tennessee Christian Preparatory School, which began last year after the then-18-year-old senior posted photos with her girlfriend online.

Court records filed in Bradley County show Armstrong’s suspension has now been rescinded. The school has also agreed not to “sabotage” her colleges or university admissions.

Why was Morgan Armstrong suspended by her school?

The dispute stemmed from an Instagram post shared on 23 April 2025. Alongside photos of herself and her girlfriend kissing and holding hands, Armstrong wrote: “cats outta the bag.”

Within days, she was called into the school’s administration office and informed she was being suspended. The disciplinary action prevented her from attending graduation and other school events during her final weeks as a student.

According to Armstrong’s lawsuit, school leaders claimed she had breached policy by making comments that reflected negatively on the school community. The complaint centred partly on a private message Armstrong sent to friends after sharing the post publicly.

What did her message say?

In the message, she wrote: “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.”

Armstrong disputed the school’s interpretation of the message, arguing it referred to relatives rather than anyone connected to Tennessee Christian. Court filings described those relatives as people who “profess but do not practice Christian principles of love, acceptance, and compassion.”

The lawsuit further alleged that school officials threatened to withhold Armstrong’s diploma and interfere with her college admissions prospects if negative comments about the school appeared online. The school denied it had contacted any colleges to disparage her.

Speaking to The Washington Post shortly after the controversy became public, Armstrong questioned why her relationship should be treated differently from those of her classmates.

“I love my girlfriend and I wanted to show it” – Armstrong on coming out

“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 said.

“I love my girlfriend and I wanted to show it.”

Armstrong’s lawsuit argued that the real reason for the punishment was that she had come out as gay. It also claimed the school’s own disciplinary rules would ordinarily have resulted in a far less severe sanction for a first offence.

In a statement issued after the settlement, Tennessee Christian Preparatory School said both sides continued to disagree about whether Armstrong had violated school policies but had mutually agreed to move forward.

The agreement brings the case to a close more than a year after Armstrong missed her graduation ceremony.