Dolly Parton, Beloved LGBTQ Ally, Dies at Age 80
The country music icon supported marriage equality, defended transgender people, and made acceptance central to her message.
Dolly Parton, the beloved singer-songwriter, actress, and longtime LGBTQ ally, has died at age 80.
Parton’s nephew, Brian Seaver, announced her death in a video posted to her Instagram account.
“My name is Brian Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” Seaver said in the video.
“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it ’til now,” Seaver continued.
Seaver said that Parton “lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others.” Carl Dean, Parton’s husband of nearly 59 years, died in 2025.
“Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly, Aunt Granny, Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton, and may God bless you all. She will always love you,” Seaver concluded.
Parton’s representatives later said she died after a brief battle with cancer. The type of cancer was not disclosed.
In May, Parton canceled a six-show Las Vegas residency, saying she was still recovering from recurring kidney stones and problems affecting her immune and digestive systems.
Over a career spanning seven decades, Parton sold more than 100 million records and won 11 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, becoming one of the best-selling musical artists of all time. Her best-known songs include “Jolene,” “Here You Come Again,” “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5,” and “Two Doors Down.”
Parton also hosted television variety shows and starred in films including 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias, and Joyful Noise. She partnered with Herschend Family Entertainment to create the theme park Dollywood, which became one of Tennessee’s leading tourist attractions. A devoted philanthropist, she supported childhood literacy, medical research, poverty relief, and recovery efforts following natural disasters, particularly in Tennessee.
Parton was a devout Christian who frequently spoke about loving others and sought to embody that principle in her own life. By largely avoiding partisan politics, she retained broad support among conservatives and liberals alike.
Yet Parton publicly supported the LGBTQ community, advocating for marriage equality and defending the dignity of transgender people.
In a 2023 interview with Metro Weekly, Parton said, “We’re supposed to accept people. We’re not supposed to judge and criticize. That’s God’s business. We start trying to do God’s business, then we go by the wayside as human beings. We’re supposed to just love. Love is everything.”
She cited her own family as an example.
“I say, ‘Hey, look. I’ve got some of everybody in my own family,” she said. “I’ve got gays, and lesbians, and drag queens. … I just accept them all. I love them all.’ I just try to love and enjoy everybody for who and what they are.”
In 2014, more than a year before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges established marriage equality nationwide, Parton joked to the British magazine Event: “I think gay couples should be allowed to marry. They should suffer just like us heterosexuals.”
In 2016, Parton spoke out after North Carolina lawmakers passed an anti-transgender law requiring people in government buildings to use restrooms corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificates.
“I think everybody should be treated with respect,” Parton said in a video statement to CNN. “I don’t judge people. I try not to get too caught up in all the controversy of things. I hope that everybody gets a chance to be who and what they are.”
Parton then took a swipe at the law: “I just know if I have to pee, I’m gonna pee. I don’t care where it’s gonna be.”
Following Parton’s death, President Donald Trump ordered U.S. flags at federal buildings and facilities nationwide flown at half-staff through Sept. 1.
Tributes to Parton poured across social media, with LGBTQ advocacy groups mourning the loss of a steadfast ally.
“We are heartbroken by Dolly’s passing,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “She showed the world what it looks like to lead with love and stood with our community long before others in entertainment, using her voice and platform to create a world where LGBTQ+ people feel seen and celebrated.
“Her music and her spirit touched millions; and her generosity, especially toward children, will be felt for generations,” Robinson added. “We will miss her dearly, and we will carry forward the light she shared with all of us.”
“Tennessee’s LGBTQ community is mourning Dolly Parton because she was the outsider who made it big by being herself, and leading with love,” the Tennessee Equality Project, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, said in a statement. “There are thousands of stories of individual people in our community whose lives have been touched by her light, and they are telling those stories today all over social media. We always felt that she had our back, and it mattered, because she was the most beloved Tennessean in the world.”
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