Dolly Parton has decided to speak out about same-sex marriage even though it is not recognized in her home state of Tennessee. Parton says that she is in support of equality for all people, according to The Huffington Post.
“I didn’t know any gay people in my childhood. I do have a lot of gays in my family now, but some will never come out,” Parton said. Parton grew up in a family of 12 children in Locust Ridge, Tennessee. Her family was Pentecostal.
She made her comments in an interview with Britain’s Event magazine.
“I think everyone should be with who they love,” Parton explained. “I don’t want to be controversial or stir up a bunch of trouble but people are going to love who they are going to love. I think gay couples should be allowed to marry. They should suffer just like us heterosexuals. Ha ha ha!”
Parton has been married for close to 50 years, but she still remains the subject of gay rumors involving her friend Judy Ogle. Parton compares her relationship with Ogle to that of the one between Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King.
“Like Gayle [King], her friend, Judy, my friend … they just think that you just can’t be that close to somebody,” she said back in 2012. “Judy and I have been best friends since we were like in the third and fourth grade. We still just have a great friendship and relationship and I love her as much as I love anybody in the whole world, but we’re not romantically involved.”