08/26/2026
When the K*K tried to block Gay people from entering Dollywood, Dolly Parton had one answer.
“Am I going to say they’re not welcome here? Of course not.”
In 1991, when thousands of Gay men were dying of AIDS and country music barely acknowledged we existed, Dolly released one of the earliest country songs to say the word “gay.”
“Some are preachers, some are gay… But not a one is turned away when it’s family.”
Years later, when transgender musician Our Lady J needed surgery her insurance wouldn’t cover. She organized a benefit to raise the money herself.
When Dolly was asked to write a song for Transamerica, a movie about a transgender woman fighting to finally live as herself, she watched an unfinished version of the film.
She woke up the next morning and wrote “Travelin’ Thru.” It earned her an Oscar nomination.
And sometimes Dolly’s love was simply joyful…
She once secretly entered a Dolly Parton look-alike contest at a gay bar filled with drag queens.
She made her hair bigger. Her makeup heavier. Her beauty mark darker.
Nobody recognized her.
Dolly Parton lost.
In 2023, when Tennessee passed laws targeting trans people and drag performers, Dolly was asked what she thought.
She mentioned the Gay, le***an and trans people in her own family and life.
“I know and love them all, and I do not judge.”
She said she had watched how deeply it hurt them to be attacked simply for being who they were.
“They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton.”
Rest in Power, Dolly 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
