Dolly Parton’s professed love for the LGBT community extends beyond her fervent fanbase.
In a new interview with PrideSource, the 70-year-old country queen says she has “many” gay and lesbian family members, and she’s always loved them unconditionally. Parton didn’t name names, but added that she’s “had many people through the years who I have helped to feel good about themselves.”
“Whether it’s about being gay or whatever, a lot of people do me like they used to do my mama and come to talk to me about things,” she said. “I say, ‘You need to let people know who you are and you need to come on out. You don’t need to live your life in darkness ― what’s the point in that? You’re never gonna be happy; you’re gonna be sick. You’re not gonna be healthy if you try to suppress your feelings and who you are.’”
Her LGBT friends and family members, she said, “just want to make the world a more beautiful place like I do.”
Parton has discussed her LGBT following in a number of recent interviews. In July, she told The Guardian that she feels “more like a family member or an aunt or an older sister or a friend” to those fans.
“I’ve often said people don’t come to see me to see me, they come to see me to see them,” Parton said. “I’ve fought for the right to be myself, so that is one of the reasons that the gays and lesbians relate to me. They know that I appreciate everybody for who they are.”
The icon is, once again, in the midst of another banner year professionally. Her latest album, “Pure & Simple,” shot to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart after it was released Aug. 19. She’ll kick off the Canadian leg of her acclaimed “Pure & Simple” Tour, which has already thrilled audiences in Philadelphia, Boston and New York, on Sept. 9.
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