Some call her the queen of country. Others call her the queen of hearts. And some? Well they call her the queen of the gays. (I have a license to say that, don’t worry.)
Queen Dolly has some strong words for her Christian fans who don’t believe she should be so supportive of the LGBTQIA+ community, and they are iconic.
So, as I said…
Dolly is one of the many queens in the LGBTQIA+ community. Her fellow compatriots include Cher, Lady Gaga, and Hayley Kiyoko, obviously.
She’s been a vocal supporter of the community since at least 1991.
Back then, she made an incredibly controversial choice.
At the height of the AIDS crisis, she wrote a recorded a song called “Family.”
In it, she sang, “Some are preachers, some are gay/Some are addicts, drunks and strays/But not a one is turned away/When it’s family.”
She’s never wavered from her all-encompassing support.
And she loves drag queens.
While appearing on Late Night With Seth Meyers , she changed the lyrics to “Jolene” while singing it live. The new ones? “Drag queen, drag queen, drag queen, drag queeeeeen.”
I mean, even Netflix knows how beloved she is by the community.
Not only did they heavily feature drag queens in the promotional materials for Dumplin’ (which you should go watch right now), they also made an entire music video with your fave Drag Race contestants lip-syncing to “Jolene.”
Larry King decided to ask her about her support of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
“Didn’t you recently though throw support to the LGBT community?”
I mean, as we just established, Dolly has been doing this for a few years now. Get it right, Mr. King.
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She knows exactly what her reputation is.
“Oh I’m always encouraging — not encouraging…they’ve made me the poster child, only because I’m so outspoken towards just being accepting of people.”
See? I said we did that. I said it!
Can I get an Amen?
“I don’t believe we should criticize and judge other people. I think we should be accepting and loving.”
I wish more people lived by the wise, kind words of Dolly Parton.
Once more for the people in the back:
“We are all God’s children. We are who we are, and we should be allowed to be who we are.”
Every single part of this interview should be put on an inspirational poster.
Larry King had a crucial question for her.
“Do any of the faith-based communities that deeply believe the other way take umbrage with you?”
It’s interesting to note that he didn’t name a specific faith — Dolly was the one who wound up doing that.
She wants people to leave God’s business to God.
“Oh, absolutely! Oh yes. I get it all the time. I keep saying, ‘Well, if you’re the fine Christian that you think you are, why are you judgin’ people? That’s God’s job.'”
Judging is not for us to do.
“We’re not God. We’re not judges. You know, we’re supposed to love one another. We’re supposed to not judge. And we’re not supposed to take vengeance on other people. That’s God’s job.”
Okay, queen!
“So, I got too much to do on my own to try and do God’s work, too. I mean, not to try to get in to do all that. So, yeah.”
She hasn’t had it easy.
“I suffer for everything. I’m not out to — I just think we should be more loving, more caring. We are who we are.”
It’s unfair to punish her for supporting others.
We are as we are made.
“If you’re gay, you’re gay. If you’re straight, you’re straight. And you should be allowed to be how you are, and who you are.”
Does Dolly have a mailing list for all the amazing things she says, and can I join it?
You can watch the whole segment here.
It’s summed up here, but there’s still something so magical about watching a living legend talk so openly and so compassionately about a subject she clearly cares about. You go, Dolly.