Why is dolly parton a gay icon
Dolly Parton has many LGBTQ+ fans and has long been considered an enduring queer icon. Parton has spoken out on multiple occasions in support of LGBTQ+ rights and has also been vocal in back of marriage equality. She has also called out Christians for judging homosexual people, saying: “If you’re gay, you’re gay. If you’re straight, you’re unbent. And you should be allowed to be how you are and who you are.”
Parton’s outspoken support for the LGBTQ+ community can first be seen way back in 1991 on the album Eagle When She Flies, which features the ballad Family, with its lyrics: “Some are preachers, some are gay, some are addicts, drunks and strays. But not a one is turned away when it’s family.”
But it is the title track on her Coat of Many Colors album, released 50 years ago this September, that resonates with so many LGBTQ+ fans. The song describes an episode from Parton’s childhood growing up in rural poverty where her mother sews her a coat out of different coloured rags. For the young Parton, this gives her a sense of celebration in herself as well as helping her stand out and receive attention from her parents (which with 12 siblings was no mean feat). But upon going to school the
Amazingly, Dolly Parton — the boobalicious country music diva, frequent drag queen inspiration and long-standing supporter of gay rights — hasn’t been on a major nationwide tour in 20 years. Not that you couldn’t see her in concert… in limited, special-appearance venues as she wanted. But a multi-city North America whistle-stop campaign of classics? Nope.
So we are excited that she’ll be starting a 60 city tour this summer, as the same day she drops a recent two-disc album… at least, we think we are. Aside from the announcement that it’s happening, we don’t have any details, including whether she’ll be making an appearance in North Texas, or when… but c’mon how can she avoid us? The album details haven’t been released yet either, other than the name (Pure & Simple with Dolly’s Biggest Hits 2) and that it will include new material and past hits.
Related
Dolly Parton on Gay Rumors, Losing a Drag Queen Look-Alike Contest and Modern Memoir
Nov. 26, 2012— -- Country music titan Dolly Parton is anything but shy.
In an exclusive interview with "Nightline," Parton dished about her love existence (including those rumors that she is secretly gay), losing a drag queen lookalike contest and building a multimillion-dollar entertainment empire.
In her long reign as a country music legend, Parton, now 66, has done it all. In her new motivational memoir, "Dream More," which will be released on Nov. 27, Parton talks about growing up dirt needy in Sevierville, Tenn., in a cabin with 11 siblings. She said she modeled her signature massive, blonde hair and red-lipped, voluptuous-Dolly look after the town tramp.
"There was this woman, we won't contact her names, but she was beautiful," she said. "I had never seen anybody, you know, with the yellow hair all piled up and the red lipstick and the rouge and the tall heeled shoes, and I thought, 'This is what I want to view like.'"
Parton is refreshingly sincere about things most entertainers guard ferociously, including rumors about her love life.
Dolly Parton calls out anti-LGBT Christians: 'I try to love everybody'
Country music legend Dolly Parton -- who has distant been an icon for the gay community -- is calling out her fellow Christians who are intolerant of the LGBT community.
"They know that I completely love and approve them, as I act all people. I've struggled enough in my being to be appreciated and understood. I've had to go against all kinds of people through the years just to be myself," Parton said in a recent interview with Billboard magazine.
"I think everybody should be allowed to be who they are, and to love who they love. I don't ponder we should be judgmental. Lord, I've got enough problems of my control to pass judgment on somebody else," she said.
The 68-year-old singer and actress has set herself apart from her country tune brethren with her unabashedly progressive views on not just gay rights but gender equality too. Parton has been a trailblazer as a songwriter and as a businesswoman, having successfully launched her have theme park, Dollywood, which is based in Tennessee.
Earlier this year, she declared her support for same-sex attracted marriage, joking that "they should suffer just love us heterosexual