Dolly Parton did not wait for it to be comfortable or popular.
In 2009, when marriage equality was still a legal battle in much of the United States, the Tennessee singer was already defending it publicly, without mincing words. She told journalist Joy Behar that same-sex couples deserved the same rights as heterosexual couples, including the right to suffer through a divorce if things did not work out. A phrase that sounded like a joke, but concealed a genuine conviction.
Parton had been married to Carl Dean for nearly 50 years, and from her own theme park, Dollywood, in Tennessee, she organized the so-called ‘Gay Days’ for years, opening its doors to a community that in country music often encountered more rejection than applause. In January 2026, as she turned 80, she was still remembered as one of the most steadfast and consistent allies the LGBT movement has had in the entertainment world.