09/04/2026
The world feels a little less colorful this week.
In the span of just a few days, we said goodbye to four icons whose work, advocacy, artistry, and willingness to challenge expectations left lasting marks on LGBTQ+ culture and community.
Dolly Parton chose love and stood beside LGBTQ+ people even when others in her industry would not. Tim Curry gave generations of q***r people permission to embrace everything strange, theatrical, and different about themselves. Yayoi Kusama built worlds that challenged convention and made space for q***r love long before acceptance was mainstream. Gloria Steinem spent a lifetime fighting against restrictive ideas of gender and showed us that our understanding of liberation can, and should, continue to grow.
Their relationships to our community were different. Their contributions were different. None were perfect. But each made bold choices that helped q***r people imagine something beyond the boundaries society placed around us.
So today, we remember them with gratitude for the art they made, the conversations they started, the barriers they challenged, and the people who felt a little more possible because they existed.
Thank you for making the world bolder, stranger, more colorful, and more loving. May we keep it that way.
Rest In Power Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, Yayoi Kusama, and Gloria Steinem.