Dolly Parton has long been country music's biggest gay icon, but it seems she might be taking pop pointers from the likes of Cher and Madonna for her next project.
As Billboard and The Guardian are reporting, the 68-year-old superstar revealed plans for a dance album at a press conference last week. Though she didn't elaborate on specifics of the release, Parton said the album will include "several songs that are very positive towards the gay community."
"I would like to do a dance record," she said, according to Billboard. "I have a song called 'Just a Wee Bit Gay.' It's a great little dance tune -- it's funny and it's got a lot of comic in it. I do write a lot of songs along those lines with people that are different and are just themselves."
Rumors of Parton's dance album began to swirl in 2007, after Perez Hilton described hearing "Just a Wee Bit Gay," according to The Guardian. Meanwhile, producer Allen Morgan claimed he was collaborating with Parton on the project, describing the album as "different from anything she's ever done" at the time.
Parton has long been outspoken in her support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
"I do believe that I have a lot of gay fans because I think they do accept me as I am -- the differences in me -- and I think they know that I see that and love that in everybody else," she told PrideSource's Chris Azzopardi while promoting her latest album, "Blue Smoke," earlier this year. "I try to see the good in everybody and I don't care who people are as long as they're themselves, whatever that is."
She offered similar sentiments in an interview with Britain's Event magazine, per an article featured on the Daily Mail's website.
"I think everyone should be with who they love," she said at the time. "I think gay couples should be allowed to marry. They should suffer just like us heterosexuals. Ha ha ha!"
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