Like most of y’all, my heart broke when I heard Dolly Parton died. My first response was: “Dolly Parton, z”l, Queen of Songwriting, Singing, and Performing; Queen of Tzedakah, dies at age 80. Donate to her free books for kids project here! Think of her when you get the COVID booster shot she helped fund as well [scholarly and financial evidence at the end of this post].” Also, I made some loving jokes about how Parton made Gender-Affirming Surgeries popular. Dolly spent decades publicly defending people’s right to make their outward appearance correspond more closely with how they understand themselves—and she cheerfully defended doing exactly that herself. She wasn’t just a wonderful singer, songwriter, and entertainer. She didn’t just give money and her personal support to uncontroversial efforts like donating books to kids through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. She also gave her love and concrete support to the Queer community – LGBTQIA+ and all – even when people protested angrily, loudly, and visibly. I wanted to note two important takeaways from Dolly Parton’s life for this moment in time. One: She was incredibly generous – not only when it was easy, but also when plenty of Americans loudly refused to accept science-based public health projects and the personal identities of people she welcomed with open arms. Two: She was humble. She left the judging to her higher power and publicly loved all people for staying true to themselves.

1991 — “Family” — Dolly Parton released “Family” on Eagle When She Flies in 1991. The song explicitly names gay people within a larger description of family members who remain part of the family despite difference. Rather than claiming that it was definitively the first—or one of the first—country songs to use the word “gay,” a claim that is difficult to establish conclusively, the historically supportable point is that Parton used unusually explicit LGBTQ-inclusive language in mainstream country music in 1991. (Ben Mna, 2023, Arts) Scholarly work places “Family” within Parton’s broader significance for LGBTQ+ belonging in country music. James Barker argues that Parton’s persona and music can create forms of belonging for LGBTQ+ listeners within a genre often imagined as inhospitable to them. Ilias Ben Mna specifically discusses “Family” as an accessible gesture toward cultural recognition and inclusion. (Barker, 2022, Persona Studies, 143–155; Ben Mna, 2023, Arts)

May 22, 2004 — Gay Day at Dollywood and a KKK Protest — An unofficial Gay Day gathering was scheduled at Dollywood for May 22, 2004. Contemporary reporting documented a planned Ku Klux Klan protest outside the park. Dollywood officials contacted police, increased security was planned, and a park spokesperson stated that the protesters would not be permitted on Dollywood property. KKK members planned to protest outside the park during the Gay Day gathering. (Outtraveler Staff, May 20, 2004, The Advocate) A Dollywood spokesperson explicitly said the park was not trying to stop anyone from attending. (Outtraveler Staff, May 1, 2004, The Advocate)

2005–2006 — Transamerica and “Travelin’ Thru” — Director Duncan Tucker asked Parton to write a song for Transamerica, the 2005 film centered on Bree, a transgender woman. Tucker sent Parton a rough cut of the film. Parton later explained that she worked with the idea for a while and that one morning the song came together. “Travelin’ Thru” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 78th Academy Awards, held March 5, 2006. In a February 15, 2006, interview, Parton described the film as moving because its protagonist was struggling to become who she was and to be accepted, seen, and loved. (Parton, February 15, 2006, Larry King Live, CNN) The film and song also have a substantial scholarly context. Shana Goldin-Perschbacher analyzes Transamerica’s country soundtrack and “Travelin’ Thru” as part of queer and trans narratives involving gender, genre, journey, and rurality. (Goldin-Perschbacher, 2015, New Literary History, 775–803)

December 16, 2009 — Our Lady J’s “Boob-Aid” Benefit — Transgender musician Our Lady J organized a New York benefit concert and auction to raise money for breast augmentation surgery that her insurance refused to cover. Contemporary LGBTQ+ reporting identified Dolly Parton among the celebrities who contributed items to the fundraising auction. (“Our Lady J’s Boob-Aid,” December 9, 2009, Out)

2023 — Tennessee Legislation and Parton’s Response — In 2023, Tennessee enacted legislation restricting gender-affirming medical care for minors and restricting certain adult cabaret performances; the latter measure immediately became the subject of litigation. Later that year, Parton publicly discussed transgender, gay, and lesbian people in her family and circle and framed her response in terms of love, nonjudgment, and her religious belief that all people are God’s children. (Mesfin Fekadu, November 2, 2023, The Hollywood Reporter) Parton said that she knew and loved transgender, gay, and lesbian people and did not judge them. She also compared their inability to change who they are with her own inability to change who she is: “They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton.” She situated that position explicitly within her religious worldview, arguing that judgment belongs to God and that everyone is a child of God. (Mesfin Fekadu, November 2, 2023, The Hollywood Reporter)

These aren’t just opinions and love letters to our hero Dolly Parton, z”l. Across several decades, Parton repeatedly used the language of acceptance and nonjudgment toward LGBTQ+ people. She publicly defended transgender, gay, and lesbian people in 2023. Scholarly work also demonstrates that LGBTQ+ audiences have interpreted Parton’s music and public persona as resources for belonging within country music. (Barker, 2022, Persona Studies, 143–155; Ben Mna, 2023, Arts; Goldin-Perschbacher, 2015, New Literary History, 775–803) She created large financial foundations that will continue to contribute to children’s literacy and to our health, long after today. We were lucky to have her, lucky that she worked so hard to “make it big” so we could all get to know her, and lucky that she continued to be generous, inclusive, and loving until her very last day. And I didn’t even mention how grateful I am for her music and her acting!

Selected Bibliography

Barker, James. “Dolly Parton’s Mythologised Persona, Collective Life Writing, and Building a Home for LGBTQ+ Listeners in Country Music.” Persona Studies 8, no. 1 (2022): 143–155.

Ben Mna, Ilias. “This Country Ain’t Low—The Country Music of Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash as a Form of Redistributive Politics.” Arts 12, no. 1 (2023): article 17.

Fekadu, Mesfin. Interview with Dolly Parton. The Hollywood Reporter. November 2, 2023.

Goldin-Perschbacher, Shana. “TransAmericana: Gender, Genre, and Journey.” New Literary History 46, no. 4 (2015): 775–803.

“Our Lady J’s Boob-Aid.” Out. December 9, 2009.

Outtraveler Staff. “Group Can’t Advertise ‘Gay Day at Dollywood.’” The Advocate. May 1, 2004.

Outtraveler Staff. “KKK to Protest Theme Park Gay Day.” The Advocate. May 20, 2004.

Parton, Dolly. Interview by Larry King. Larry King Live. CNN. February 15, 2006.

Scholarly information about Dolly Parton’s significant contributions to public health:

March 2020 — Dolly Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support COVID-19 research. Her gift established the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund, which subsequently appears by name in the funding acknowledgments of peer-reviewed research connected with Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine.

July 14, 2020 — Jackson et al., “An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — Preliminary Report,” The New England Journal of Medicine. This is the published Phase 1 study of Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine. Its funding statement explicitly names the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund (Vanderbilt University Medical Center). Read the original New England Journal of Medicine study

July 14, 2020 — National Institutes of Health, “Experimental coronavirus vaccine is safe and produces immune response.” NIH’s scientific summary of the Phase 1 results also explicitly lists the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund among the study’s funding sources. Read the NIH research summary

July 14, 2020 — Vanderbilt University Medical Center, “VUMC studies provide key positive results for COVID-19 vaccine in early-stage clinical trial.” This one is especially useful for explaining what Vanderbilt actually did. The Vanderbilt team analyzed whether antibodies from vaccinated participants could neutralize live SARS-CoV-2. Vanderbilt explicitly states that this work was supported by the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund. Read Vanderbilt’s scientific announcement

September 29, 2020 — Anderson et al., “Safety and Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 Vaccine in Older Adults,” The New England Journal of Medicine. A subsequent peer-reviewed study of the Moderna vaccine in older adults again lists the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund among its funding sources. Read the New England Journal of Medicine older-adults study

December 3, 2020 — Widge et al., “Durability of Responses after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 Vaccination,” The New England Journal of Medicine. This follow-up research examining how immune responses persisted after vaccination again acknowledges the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund. Read the New England Journal of Medicine follow-up study

April 6, 2021 — Doria-Rose et al., “Antibody Persistence through 6 Months after the Second Dose of mRNA-1273 Vaccine for Covid-19,” The New England Journal of Medicine. Six-month follow-up research again acknowledges the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund. Read the six-month antibody study