I was at the National Theatre in London on Tuesday night, at a production of Pride, which tells the story of the unlikely(不太可能的) alliance(联盟，结盟) between gay activists and Welsh miners during the 1984 miners’ strike, when news broke of Dolly Parton’s death. Well. Against the sadness, one couldn’t help smiling. At a very gay production, attended by a majority gay audience, I half expected them to stop the show or call out a team from St John Ambulance bearing stretchers. In the script for Pride, references to Judy Garland and Ethel Merman(朱迪·嘉兰和埃塞尔·默曼，同性恋文化中的偶像) serve as shorthand for gay sensibilities, but it could just as easily have been Dolly Parton. The queen of country and crossover pop was beloved by so many communities – many antagonistic(敌对的，对抗的) to each other – but it was perhaps her gay fans who claimed her most vociferously(大声地，激烈地) and publicly.
周二晚上，我在伦敦国家剧院观看话剧《骄傲》，该剧讲述了1984年矿工罢工期间同性恋活动家与威尔士矿工之间不可思议的联盟。就在那时，传来了多莉·帕顿去世的消息。唉。在悲伤之余，人们不禁莞尔。在一部非常“同性恋”的制作中，观众也大多是同性恋，我甚至有点期待他们会叫停演出，或者叫来一队抬着担架的圣约翰救护车人员。在《骄傲》的剧本中，提到朱迪·嘉兰和埃塞尔·默曼是同性恋情感的代名词，但其实换成多莉·帕顿也完全可以。这位乡村音乐和跨界流行乐的女王深受众多群体的喜爱——其中许多群体彼此敌对——但也许正是她的同性恋粉丝最响亮、最公开地宣称对她的所有权。
When we got home my friends and I danced around to 9 to 5, and on Wednesday morning it was Here You Come, Again (“looking better than a body has a right to” – oh, Dolly) on a loop(循环播放), along with her 1971 hit(热门歌曲，成功作品) Coat of Many Colors(《彩衣》，多莉·帕顿的经典歌曲).
回到家后，我和朋友们随着《9 to 5》的旋律跳舞，到了周三早上，又循环播放《你又来了》（“美得不像话”——哦，多莉），还有她1971年的热门歌曲《彩衣》。
Parton was, in some ways, an unlikely gay icon. She was studiously(刻意地，用心地) neutral on a great many subjects, including politics, and while she could be funny and waspish(尖刻的，易怒的), the person she most often poked fun at was herself. In my colleague Alexis Petridis’s lovely tribute(悼念文章，致敬), he mentions Parton’s 1977 encounter(相遇，会面) with Barbara Walters – a woman so rich in spite(恶意，怨恨) and Chanel suits as to win her her own following in corners of the gay community. She asked Dolly: “Do you ever feel that you’re a joke?” One was struck by Parton’s smiling response – “I’m sure of myself as a person. I’m sure of my talent” – relative to how Katharine Hepburn, a gay icon with a more traditional way of handling things, responded to similar nastiness from Walters.(人们被帕顿微笑的回答所打动，相比之下，赫本以更传统的方式回应了沃尔特斯的恶意。) When the journalist asked her, “Do you ever wear a skirt?”, Hepburn clapped back(回击，反驳): “I have one. I’ll wear it to your funeral.” In a million years, Parton wouldn’t have been rude like that.
从某些方面来说，帕顿是一个不太可能的同性恋偶像。她在许多问题上刻意保持中立，包括政治，虽然她风趣且尖刻，但她最常取笑的人是她自己。在我的同事亚历克西斯·彼得里迪斯的感人悼文中，他提到了帕顿1977年与芭芭拉·沃尔特斯的会面——沃尔特斯是一个充满恶意和香奈儿套装的女人，以至于在同性恋群体的某些角落也赢得了自己的追随者。她问多莉：“你有没有觉得自己是个笑话？”人们不禁为帕顿微笑的回答所打动——“我对自己作为一个人很有信心。我对自己的才华很有信心”——相比之下，凯瑟琳·赫本，一位处理事情方式更为传统的同性恋偶像，对沃尔特斯类似的恶意做出了回应。当记者问她：“你穿过裙子吗？”赫本回击道：“我有一条。我会穿着它去参加你的葬礼。”再过一百万年，帕顿也不会那样粗鲁。