While other country music singers remained silent — or outright discriminated against — the LGBTQ+ community, Parton was always an outspoken supporter and ally.
“I got a huge gay following and some really macho-looking women,†Parton told Andy Warhol in a 1984 Interview magazine story. “To me, people are people… Many of my friends are gay, male and female. I don't judge people. I don't care what people do in their bedrooms and people shouldn't care what I do in mine.â€
In 1989, at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in America, Parton helped finance the 1989 Oscar-winning documentary “Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt,†about the people lost to AIDS whose names made up the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt; in January of 1994, she lent her participation to Break the Silence, a national campaign spreading AIDS awareness; and later that year, donated her song “You Gotta Be My Baby†to “Red Hot + Country,†a charity album whose proceeds went to HIV/AIDS awareness and research. In 2009, Parton spoke out in support of gay marriage, joking with Joy Behar, “Sure, why can't they get married? They should suffer like the rest of us do.â€
She hosts “Gay Day†at her Tennessee theme park, Dollywood, and in 2023, amid a tidal wave of anti-trans legislation in the South, including her home state of Tennessee, she lent trans people her support, telling the Hollywood Reporter, “I just want everybody to be treated good,†adding, “They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton.†Following her death, Our Lady J, the trans screenwriter of “Transparent†and “Pose,†posted on Instagram that Parton had donated autographed items to help pay for her top surgery.
