Dolly Parton affirms her support for LGBT fans

NASHVILLE, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Dolly Parton says she loves her LGBT fans.

The 68-year-old singer affirmed her support for her gay fans in an interview with Billboard last week. Parton told the magazine she accepts her LGBT fans the same way she would anybody else, and expressed her disapproval of Christians who would try and pass judgment.

"If people want to pass judgment, they're already sinning," she asserted. "The sin of judging is just as bad as any other sin they might say somebody else is committing. I try to love everybody."

"[My LGBT fans] know that I completely love and accept them, as I do all people," she related. "I've struggled enough in my life to be appreciated and understood. I've had to go against all kinds of people through the years just to be myself. I think everybody should be allowed to be who they are, and to love who they love."

Parton released her 42nd album, Blue Smoke, in May. The record debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200, her highest charting album ever, and includes the singles "Home" and "Try." The singer acknowledged her success in the interview, but admitted she still feels "like the same girl" who came to Nashville in 1964.

When asked what advice she has for women going into business, Parton told Billboard "You need to really believe in what you've got to offer, what your talent is -- and if you believe, that gives you strength.

"In my early days, I would go in, and I was always overmade, with my boobs sticking out, my clothes too tight, and so I really looked like easy prey to a lot of guys -- just looked easy, period. But I would go in, and if they were not paying close attention to what I was saying, I always said, "I look like a woman, but I think like a man and you better pay attention or I'll have your money and I'll be gone."

In that line of discussion, she was asked what she thought of Sheryl Sandberg's book, Lean In. She wasn't familiar with it and joked, "I've leaned over. I've leaned forward. I don't know what 'leaned in' is. Lean in to God."