Known for her political activism including becoming a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit to stop the ban on drag shows, Brigitte Bandit has a lengthy record of advocacy and activism for the state’s LGBTQ+ community including multiple appearances before Texas lawmakers at the capitol testifying.
Austin’s NBC News affiliate KXAN reported that during one of her appearances before a committee hearing Bandit was photographed holding a copy of a children’s book about country music superstar Dolly Parton. One of Parton’s executive team saw the photo and passed it along to the singer.
Parton reacted by signing a custom made guitar which was presented to Bandit at a live performance this past weekend.
“Dolly Parton was actually the second concert I ever saw. My first one was Cher, and Dolly was my second. I like to joke that’s why I’m a drag queen now,” Bandit told KXAN. “But Dolly has always been such a huge inspiration. I do call myself the Dolly of Austin. My very first paid booking was a Dolly show. Whenever I started to get a little bit more traction in the drag community, for some reason, Dolly and Brigitte just got together, and I was booked for so many Dolly events that eventually I just ended up becoming the Dolly. Often if somebody wanted a Dolly, I was there.”
Reflecting on the previous year and the numerous challenges including the lawsuit, that currently has been blocked in a permanent injunction by a U.S. District Court judge, Bandit told KXAN:
“It’s a public statement to send a guitar to a drag queen in Texas right now that’s fighting this kind of anti-drag and anti-trans bills, so I love Dolly for supporting the community and making sure that the people who are doing this feel heard. Everybody’s excited to see that people notice what we’re doing here.”
She added that she plans to only perform once with the guitar before she puts it in a display case of some kind. Her intent she noted is to perform a Dolly tribute with it on the singer’s birthday on Jan. 19.
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