A 13-year-old girl claims she was banned from her school bus for saying "I'm a lesbian".
Izzy Dieker was hit with the ban after being accused of vulgar language by the bus driver, who says the teen didn't follow orders.
Izzy, who attends Americus School in Kansas is appalled by how she has been treated.
She said: "Once I got home, my dad told me he got a call from the school that I was kicked off for saying 'I'm a lesbian'.
"I am openly a lesbian and my whole class knows it."
The teen takes the bus for the 30-minute journey to and from school every day.
She added: "It made me upset to think that people go through this everyday and also that kids are growing up thinking that it's a horrible thing and they shouldn't be talking about it all, when honestly it should be the other way around."
Her mother, Tasha Cooper, is appalled that the driver considered the word 'lesbian' to be inappropriate.
Tasha told KSN: "She's 13 years old and these are adults acting like this towards her.
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"We've had talks about other students callling her names and I expect that because they're repeating what their parents say.
"But for the staff, the people that I trust her with, I was angry."
Izzy says she has been supported classmates and teachers who have started wearing rainbow pins to show solidarity.
Michael Lanzrath, a local teacher who is gay, said: "I really just wanted to let Izzy know that there are people that absolutely support her.
"Our jobs as educators is to make sure that all our kids are taken care of. To us, all means all."
A school district spokesperson declined to comment on the bus ban to KSN.
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