Parton’s version of love, which includes condoning immoral sexual behavior (“be who you are,” she’s said), is unaligned with God’s vision for humanity. Like so many secularized spiritual leaders, Parton equates love with agreement, but the two are not reciprocal. Love doesn’t mean we must accept sinfulness as good to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.
It’s a reminder to be careful when looking to cultural Christians to light the way. For example, we love to hear Stephen Colbert testify about following Christ, but when he rants against the overturn of Roe v. Wade, it’s clear he’s misguided.
Similarly, in the same week that Parton mentioned her upbringing in church, The Advocate (a large circulation magazine) called her an “LGBTQ+ icon.” And her rhinestone-studded flashy outfits, big hair, and infamous chest have inspired many a drag queen. That’s not her fault, but she does seem to indulge it.
My prediction is if Trump gets reelected - lots of right-wing garbage site like The Federalist will go fully mask off. They’ll openly talk about putting God (in other words Christianity) into schools, banning contraception, ending what they call the gay agenda, removing people they don’t like from public life, etc. And they’ll intimate that violence is justified to “fix” society. Libs will be shocked (shocked!) by this development. They’re act as though they thought Trump could do fascism on day one all by himself.
Right now right-wing sites are chomping at the bit to go fully mask off but they can’t go there now. Instead they do weird stuff like attack Parton. She is a broadly beloved figure. And it’s not as if she’s got some kind of controversial baggage or she’s some kind of “culture warrior”. She does stuff like fund libraries for kids. The writer is a nasty piece of human garbage who hates people not exactly like her.