She turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Twice. She turned down the statue Tennessee wanted to stand up for her at the Capitol.



She died Tuesday in Nashville at 80, and the flag over the White House came down to half-staff on the order of the man whose medal she declined. In 2005 she put "Travelin' Thru" on a road movie about a trans woman and did it without a press tour about how brave she was being. In 2011 she apologized personally to a woman told to turn her marriage-equality shirt inside out at Dollywood. Sixty years of the same three words in the same accent, said in rooms where saying them cost her something.

They will spend this week claiming her. She spent sixty years politely declining them.



What did you inherit from people who were never asked to be brave, and were anyway? I answer every one of these in the comments under the piece.



https://thistleandmoss.com/p/half-staff-for-a-woman-he-couldn-t-buy-dolly-s-gone-trump-s-numbers-are-in-the-goddamn-cellar-and-th?utm_source=PixelFed&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica



#DollyParton #Dolly #RIPDolly #Nashville #CountryMusic #Music #LGBTQ #QueerNews #TransRights #Trans #Photography #History #News #Portrait