Mich. Asst. Attorney General: Gay Student Ruined Me

Andrew Shirvell

Former assistant Michigan attorney general Andrew Shirvell says that his livelihood and reputation have been ruined after a dust-up with the University of Michigan's first openly gay student body president Chris Armstrong.



Because of his hardships, Shirvell has asked the federal judge overseeing the suit to drop it, according to theDetroit Free Press.



Armstrong's lawsuit against Shirvell seeks damages for stalking and harassing him online. It also alleges that Shirvell showed up at events at which Armstrong was scheduled to appear, and at one point also showed up at his house. Shirvell also ran a blog, which has since been taken down, claiming that Armstrong was using his position as student body president to spread the gay agenda. In a filing Friday, Shirvell said he was only exercising his First Amendment rights, and did not have direct contact with Armstrong.



He added that Armstrong's lawsuit is "politically motivated" and that the student only intends to "make an example out of [him] in order to deter others from criticizing [Armstrong's] homosexual activist agenda."



Shirvell was fired for allegedly harassing Armstrong in November by attorney general Mike Cox, who said he was using state property to publish his blog posts. Reports from earlier this year show that Shirvell had previously been warned about using state resources for antigay attacks on politicians.