Dolly Parton Decries Tennessee's Anti-Trans Law: 'I've Got Transgender People... Within My Own Family'

Country music icon Dolly Parton spoke out against state laws targeting transgender people in a recent interview, saying, "I just see how broken-hearted they get" over legislative assaults.

Parton has been "a vocal advocate and ally to the LGBTQ+ community" and "made a point to call for inclusivity and acceptance throughout her career," Billboard Magazine noted in reporting on the interview, which Parton conducted with The Hollywood Reporter.

In a wide-ranging interview to promote her new album "Rock Star," Parton talked about the megawatt collaborations she's done for the album, as well as her reluctance to perform at Super Bowl halftime shows and to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Parton has also been reluctant to talk about political issues – "I try not to get into the politics of everything," she told THR – but she made an exception for the LGBTQ+ people in her life.

Asked about a bill passed by Tennessee legislators that THR characterized as "allow[ing] for discrimination against trans people," Parton told the publication that her maxim is, "I just want everybody to be treated good."

"Earlier this year, Tennessee passed a state-wide ban on gender-affirming health care for minors," HuffPost noted. "It also became the first state to criminalize certain drag performances."

That action prompted a lawsuit from three trans youths and their families, who claimed that the law "discriminates against trans youths based on their transgender status by not allowing them access to certain medical treatments while still allowing cisgender children to use them to treat other conditions," NBC News reported.

The plaintiffs have petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene.

Addressing the issue, the global icon told THR: "I have some of everybody in my own immediate family and in my circle of employees. I've got transgender people... all within my own family. I know and love them all, and I do not judge.

"And I just see how broken-hearted they get over certain things and I know how real they are," Parton went on to add. "I know how important this is to them. That's who they are. They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton, you know, the way people know me.

"If there's something to be judged, that is God's business. But we are all God's children and how we are is who we are."

Parton explained that for her, being a "person of faith" is about looking beyond differences.

"I try to find the God-light in everybody and everybody shines," Parton told the publication. "I see that in everybody. I go right to that God-light, and I don't care if you're Black or white or green or alien gray.... Some don't get to let it shine. If I don't see it first out, I'd go searching. That's how I accept everybody because I know that we're all pieces of God."