A high school student from Eastern Kentucky says she and her friends at Martin County High School were discriminated against last week and were told to remove T-shirts celebrating the LGBTQ community.

Lilly Vance, a 17-year-old senior at the school in Inez, said a couple of her friends came into school on Aug. 22 wearing shirts that said "Queen Queer" and "Lady Lesbian."

A vice principal told the students they had to change out of the shirts "without reasonable explanation as of why," she said.

"They were asked to change and when they said no, they said they would get suspended if they didn’t change," Lilly said. "They were only told, 'You can’t wear these shirts,' that they are a distraction from education and 'wearing shirts that are LGBTQ-supportive put a target on your back for being bullied.'"

Lilly said she and some of her friends then went to Principal Martha Williams' office.

Southern Pride:LGBTQ athletes face challenges as an 'invisible minority'

"We asked why we can’t wear shirts that express our sexuality. Our principal basically told us that we can’t wear these clothes because they cause a distraction from learning and that they’re controversial," Lilly said. "But students at our school wear political shirts and rebel flag attire every day and nothing is said to them."

Williams and Martin County Schools Superintendent Larry James have not returned Courier Journal calls or emails requesting comment.

However, WYMT reported Monday that James issued a statement saying, "Any miscommunication has been resolved. We definitely do not want any of our students to feel like they are discriminated against."

The statement did not provide more specifics on how the "miscommunication" was "resolved."

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Thursday that James had further said he took responsibility for the incident and that "what we did was wrong."

“They were simply asked to change their shirt. That was all, no punishment,” James told the Herald-Leader. "What we did was wrong. But it wasn’t that simple. It wasn’t that cut-and-dried. ... Things led up to that point, classroom disruption and things like that. Anyway ... we shouldn’t have done that. I take full responsibility.”

Separation of church and sport:How LGBTQ athletes navigate religious pressures

Lilly said the issue at the school involves more than the shirts. The school doesn't have a Gay Straight Alliance, though Lilly said she's joined by around 30 students and five teachers in pushing for one, and the students asked Williams why they couldn't start one.

"She told us we couldn’t have a GSA club, and at one point our vice principal said, 'We don’t promote that here' to one of the boys wearing a gay pride shirt," according to Lilly, who added that her school has a Fellowship of Christian Athletes club.

Martin County Schools lists its definition of the "VALUE" of a Martin County education using an acronym that includes: "our schools (and especially, our new school) must be unique to the values, beliefs and heritage of Martin County."

Lilly said students who were asked to change "are still upset about all of this and just want to be able to feel safe in an environment where we should feel safe already. They just want to be respected."

'Things have changed':Why more Kentucky towns are embracing pride parades

Reach breaking news reporter Sarah Ladd at sladd@courier-journal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ladd_sarah. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.