A pioneer and the Queen of County Music, Dolly Parton apologized to a lesbian couple asked to leave her Tennessee theme park, Dollywood. Parton, who once said had she been born a man “I would have been a Drag Queen,” was upset and humiliated about the incident. Parton is the chief executive officer of Dollywood, her recording studio, her music copyrights and other various holdings valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

The “9 to 5,” actress, singer and songwriter who also recorded and wrote a song Whitney Houston would later record again, “I Will Always Love You,” stated: “Everyone knows my personal support of the gay and lesbian community,” Parton’s statement said. “Dollywood is a family park and all families are welcome. We do have a policy about profanity or controversial messages on clothing or signs. It is to protect the individual wearing or carrying them, as well as to keep down fights or problems by those opposed to it at the park. We even offer free shirts in exchange to those who want to remain in the park.”

Dollywood officials have offered a refund the lesbian couple that a Dollywood employee asked one of the women to turn her T-shirt reading “marriage is so gay” inside-out to avoid offending others. Park officials were going to meet with the couple in person, but it was called off when Jennifer Tipton and Olivier Odom wanted to bring a representative from Campaign for Southern Equality, a gay rights organization.

Dollywood park spokesman Pete Owens told The Knoxville News Sentinel that the park didn’t want to meet with the representative, who wasn’t at the park at the time of the incident, so they sent the couple a letter and gave them a refund.

The couple complained after a park worker at Splash Country last month asked Odom to reverse her shirt.

Owens provided the couple with a statement from Dolly Parton, who said she was sorry for any hurt or embarrassment they felt over the request.

Odom and Tipton said they were glad to see Parton’s supportive statement, but were disappointed that Dollywood officials declined to meet with them and their equality advocate.

“I think it’s an opportunity for Dollywood to come out and publicly support their LGBT staff and visitors,” Odom said.

“We still want to see policy changed,” Tipton said.

Owens had previously said the park has a dress code policy to ask people with clothing or tattoos that could be considered offensive to change or cover up, and that the couple was not asked to leave and they complied with the request to turn the shirt inside out.

The couple sent a letter to Dollywood officials asking the park “to implement policies that are inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; conduct staff sensitivity training; and issue a public statement indicating that the park is inclusive of all families.”

Controversial T-Shirt

Wearing a T-shirt “marriage is so gay,” is controversial and contradictory to public service announcements by Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Miley Cyrus, Wanda Sykes, and other celebrities asking people to refrain from saying “that’s so gay,” “queer,” and other offensive language to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgende​r community. The theme for the public service announcements are intended to get people to “think before they speak.”