By Tara Cavanaugh
ANN ARBOR-
A gay University of Michigan student has filed a lawsuit against the state's former Assistant Attorney General in the Washtenaw County Circuit Court. Chris Armstrong, the student body president at U-M, is seeking more than $25,000 in damages for defamation of character and emotional distress. He was the subject of a blog created by then-Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell called "Chris Armstrong Watch." Shirvell, who accused Armstrong of pushing a "radical homosexual agenda" and being a racist on his blog, was fired from his position as assistant attorney general, but not before his blog received national media attention. Shirvell appeared on "Anderson Cooper 360" and stood by his claims against Armstrong. He also created a Facebook group, "U of M Alumni and Others Against Chris Armstrong and his Radical (Michigan Student Assembly) Agenda," which Facebook later deactivated.
Last September,BTL reported https://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=43487 Armstrong's application for a restraining order called Shirvell "a threat to my personal safety" and listed instances when Shirvell followed him to different locations and took photo and video of his home.
The complaint received by the Washtenaw Circuit Court on April 1 alleges that last year, Shirvell staged a protest outside of Armstrong's home, took photo and video of a party at Armstrong's home by peeking in windows, wrote on his blog claims that Armstrong hosted a "gay rush party" to "recruit (freshmen) to the homosexual lifestyle" and told Armstrong's employer that he was a racist and a "viciously militant homosexual activist."
Armstrong's attorney, Deborah Gordon, told the Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20110406/NEWS05/110406017/U-M-student-files-lawsuit-against-Andrew-Shirvell on April 6 that the suit isn't about money: "Mr. Shirvell has refused to retract any of his bizarre and untruthful points. We want to set the record straight."
The complaint also alleges that Shirvell "has a documented history employing intimidation, threats and abusive language against others on whom he has become focused. (Shirvell) has consistently exhibited poor judgment and even violence against others. He has had several police encounters, including multiple arrests."
The complaint alleges that once during his time as a U-M student, Shirvell "had to be physically pulled off of other students… when those students challenged his leadership of a student group.
"(Shirvell) was arrested for assault and battery of a fellow University of Michigan student," the document continues. "He later pled no contest, and was placed on probation and fined."
The complaint claims that Shirvell's law school, the Ave Maria School of Law, along with the State Bar of Michigan, determined that "Mr. Shirvell was unfit for the practice of law in the State of Michigan, in that he lacked the character and fitness necessary to practice."
Shirvell has not publicly responded to the suit.
