Dolly Parton gives surprise gift to Texas queen who fought state’s drag ban

Country music star Dolly Parton has gifted a custom rhinestoned and autographed acoustic guitar to Brigitte Bandit, a nonbinary drag performer in Austin, Texas who made headlines in 2023 for protesting her home state’s drag ban. Bandit has previously performed as Dolly Parton at live shows.

Bandit (who uses she/her and they/them pronouns) opened the gift box, wrapped in shiny pink paper, during her live performance in Austin last Friday evening. Inside was an acoustic guitar covered in white and pink rhinestones. The guitar also had a personalized handwritten message with an autograph that read, “To Brigitte. Love, Dolly Parton.”

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“Never did I ever imagine I’d be sent a custom rhinestoned guitar signed by Dolly herself to me after seeing the work I’ve done this year,” Bandit wrote in a December 30 Instagram post. “I love you @dollyparton thank you so much for helping me find my strength in femininity and kindness 🫶🏻 and thank you to my kingdom castmates for such a special tribute moment.”

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Bandit told KXAN that Parton learned of her existence after Rebecca Seaver, the creative production coordinator at Dolly Parton Enterprises, saw a photo of Bandit carrying a children’s book about Parton while protesting Texas’s drag ban at the state capitol in 2023. Seaver sent the photo to Parton, and Parton sent the guitar to Bandit.

“I honestly can’t believe it’s even real,” Bandit told KXAN. “I keep staring at it being like it’s just going to disappear, and I’m going to wake up from this dream because it’s just — it’s just wild. It’s very exciting.”

Bandit said she intends to perform with the guitar only once, in a January 19 performance marking Parton’s birthday. Afterward, she says she plans to place the guitar in a display case. Parton was the second-ever musical concert Bandit ever attended.

“Dolly has always been such a huge inspiration,” she told the aforementioned news station. “I do call myself the Dolly of Austin. My very first paid booking was a Dolly show. Whenever I started to get a little bit more traction in the drag community, for some reason, Dolly and Brigitte just got together, and I was booked for so many Dolly events that eventually I just ended up becoming the Dolly. Often if somebody wanted a Dolly, I was there.”

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A post shared by Brigitte Bandit (@brigittebandit)

Last year, Bandit spoke out against Texas’ drag ban and joined a lawsuit challenging the law. In September, a federal court declared the law unconstitutional. Anti-drag bigots targeted Bandit for their activism, publishing her legal name and hometown online in a post accusing her and other activists of being “groomers… advocating for the sexualization of children,” The New Yorker reported.

One of the times Bandit spoke against the ban in the state legislature, Bandit appeared before the hearing committee in a dress bearing the names of the victims of the Uvalde and Allen mass shootings. She argued that the state’s children are more threatened by gun violence than drag queens. Capitol security agents escorted her out of the hearing after she spoke. Nevertheless, images of Bandit and videos of her testimony went viral.

Parton has long supported marriage equality and spoken against anti-LGBTQ+ Christians, saying, “If people want to pass judgment, they’re already sinning… I try to love everybody.”

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.”