Dolly Parton stands up for trans rights in heartfelt interview

Country music star Dolly Parton expressed support for LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender people, when asked about the recent ban on gender-affirming care for minors in her home state of Tennessee. She also discussed working with several queer musicians on her soon-to-be-released album, Rockstar.

“I just want everybody to be treated good,” Parton said when asked about the ban in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I try not to get into the politics of everything. I try to get into the human element of it. I have some of everybody in my own immediate family and in my circle of employees. I’ve got transgender people. I’ve got gays. I’ve got lesbians. I’ve got drunks. I’ve got drug addicts — all within my own family. I know and love them all, and I do not judge.”

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This year, Parton continued to surprise and delight – and as always, she made sure to show her love for her LGBTQ+ fans.

While LGBTQ+ community members resent being compared to drug addicts, Parton intended the comparison as an example of people who are often rejected by society. She noted that she grew up in a church where “so many things were a sin” and where congregants criticized her as being “trash” and a “whore” for “being young and dressing the way I did and being the way that I was.”

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“I know [trans people] and love them all, and I do not judge,” she continued. “And I just see how broken-hearted they get over certain things and I know how real they are. I know how important [gender-affirming care] is to them. That’s who they are. They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton, you know, the way people know me. If there’s something to be judged, that is God’s business. But we are all God’s children and how we are is who we are.”

Elsewhere in the interview, she said that she tries to find “the God-light in everybody,” adding, “I don’t care if you’re Black or white or green or alien gray. I go to that, because we’re all pieces of God and we all have that little God-light inside us… That’s how I accept everybody because I know that we’re all pieces of God.”

Parton, who was inducted into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame last year, said she collaborated with various queer artists in her first-ever rock ’n’ roll album, Rockstar, which will be released on November 17. For the album, she collaborated with Elton John, Melissa Etheridge, Miley Cyrus, and Brandi Carlile, as well as LGBTQ+ allies like Pink, Lizzo, and Stevie Nicks.

Parton wanted to produce a track with pop legend Cher, noting, “We have a very similar gay following. I knew that I could do something with Cher that would be a cool thing for my gay fans.” However, she said Cher was too busy and the two ran out of time to create a tune for the album.

She also that Cyrus, who is her queer goddaughter, had to “kill” her childhood Hannah Montana persona — the character she played in her Disney TV series — “in order to live [authentically] as Miley.”

In the past, Parton has spoken against transphobic bathroom bills, telling CNN Money, “I think everybody should be treated with respect,” and adding, “If I have to pee, I’m gonna pee, wherever it’s got to be.”

Parton has long supported marriage equality. She has joked, “Why can’t they get married? They should suffer like the rest of us do,” but she thoughtfully added, “I think love is love, and we have no control over that… I think people should be allowed to [marry].”

She has spoken against anti-LGBTQ+ Christians, saying, “If people want to pass judgment, they’re already sinning… I try to love everybody.” However, Parton isn’t perfect. She angered some fans by saying that some people may identify as nonbinary or pansexual because it’s “fashionable” or “for effect.”

However, she has embraced her gay fans. In a 2016 New York Times interview, Parton said, “I have a huge gay following, and I’m proud of them. Sometimes some of them look more like me than I do.” She once lost a Dolly Parton look-alike drag contest. “I didn’t win,” she told Good Morning America in 2009. “I didn’t even come in close.”

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