{"id":444865,"date":"2026-08-27T07:02:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/444865\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T07:02:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:02:59","slug":"remembering-dolly-parton-a-look-at-music-icons-impact-on-bay-area-from-lgbtq-community-human-rights-and-child-literacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/444865\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Dolly Parton: A look at music icon’s impact on Bay Area from LGBTQ community, human rights, and child literacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Dolly Parton, the beloved country music superstar known as much for her philanthropy and theme park business as she was for her chart-topping hit songs, has died at 80.<\/p>\n

Parton’s death on Tuesday was announced by her publicist, who said the singer “died peacefully” in Nashville. No cause of death was initially provided, but a later statement provided by her publicist said Parton died at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones after “bravely facing a brief battle with cancer.”<\/p>\n

Dolly’s reach was felt here in the Bay Area, having a big impact as an advocate for human rights and the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n

In fact, this past June the Gay Men’s Chorus featured Dolly Parton’s music in its production entitled “Dolly: A Pride Show.”<\/p>\n

The group performed hit songs like the one just heard, “9-to-5,” “Jolene,” and “I Will Always Love You.”<\/p>\n

The show also had touches of Dolly throughout, from the rhinestones and wigs, to the message of love and community.<\/p>\n

“Dolly woke up every day, lived her life the way she wanted to with courage, to do so publicly, and doing so, she made all of us feel like we can wake up to do that too. I can’t think of a better legacy to leave in the world than that innate sense of dignity and belonging that all people deserve,” said Jacob Stensberg, artistic director\/conductor at the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Country music legend Dolly Parton dies at 80 after ‘brief battle with cancer<\/a><\/p>\n

And Dolly’s legacy lives on through her literacy advocacy and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.<\/p>\n

The program kicked off this summer in Marin County.<\/p>\n

It provides kids under the age of 5 with one book every month.<\/p>\n

“Getting that book delivered to the homes of families and children makes it easier to provide the experience for parents, caregivers, children to connect in the home and really celebrate reading,” and Lana Adlawan, Director of County Library Services at Marin County Public Library.<\/p>\n

MORE: Dolly Parton dead at 80: Celebrities react to country music superstar’s death<\/a><\/p>\n

Any child in Marin County can register for the Imagination Library of Marin County, free of charge.<\/p>\n

The program is available in most of the Bay Area with the exception of Solano, Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Dolly, more than 3 million books are mailed each month at no cost to families across the world.<\/p>\n

So, there’s no question Dolly will continue to make an impact for the youth for years to come.<\/p>\n

San Francisco’s Castro Theatre pays tribute to Dolly Parton<\/p>\n

San Francisco is remembering Dolly Patron with the Castro Theatre changing its marquee to honor the country music star, reading, “We Will Always Love You, Dolly Parton.”<\/p>\n

San Francisco is remembering Dolly Patron with the Castro Theatre changing its marquee to honor the country music star, reading, “We Will Always Love You, Dolly Parton.”<\/p>\n

“Her significance to the LGBTQ+ community cannot be overstated,” said Raul Rangel, Castro Theater Film Programmer.<\/p>\n

MORE: Dolly Parton’s family shares her final message amid news of her death<\/a><\/p>\n

Dolly was a devoted ally to the LGBTQ+ community openly supporting marriage equality and writing songs supporting the community and gay family members…<\/p>\n

“Someone who has stood up for the LGBTQ+ community. She has always been someone who her music has been something that queer people can relate to,” said Rangel.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Dolly’s song “Travelin Thru” earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. The song was for a film about a transgender woman.<\/p>\n

“Dolly Parton was a global humanitarian above all else. She was not judgmental. She was joyous,” said Robby Sherwin, a Dolly Parton fan.<\/p>\n

MORE: Dolly Parton and Carl Dean’s best quotes about their decadeslong love story<\/a><\/p>\n

As soon as the news went out nearby Amoeba Records on Haight Street, the store began playing Dolly Parton’s music to honor the icon.<\/p>\n

The store is now preparing to sell out of her records and CD’s as people rush for a physical piece of Dolly’s music to member the country music legend.<\/p>\n

\"Now<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC News contributed to this report<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Dolly Parton, the beloved country music superstar known as much for her philanthropy and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[176285,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-444865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-176285","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}