Dolly Parton claps back at GOP governor for defunding her Imagination Library program

by Curated February 23, 2025 · Gay News / Gay Pride / Gay Rights / LGBTQ Nation

As the South Bend Tribune reports, the version of Indiana’s budget bill currently making its way through the state’s legislature does not include funding for the program, leaving it with a 50 percent shortfall over the next two years.

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On Wednesday, February 19, a representative for Parton released a statement urging Braun to restore funding for Imagination Library.

“We are hopeful that Governor Braun and the Indiana Legislature will continue this vital investment by restoring the state’s funding match for local Imagination Library programs,” the statement read, according to the Daily Beast. “The beauty of the Imagination Library is that it unites us all — regardless of politics — because every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed.”

The statement went on to note that over the past two years, the state’s funding has helped the program deliver free books to more than 125,000 Indiana children each month. “Together, we’ve helped nurture a love of reading, given families precious moments of joy, and built a foundation for lifelong learning.”

Earlier this month, Allen County Public Library executive director Susan Baier told the Economic Digest that the loss of state funding could spell an end to the program in Indiana. “I hate saying that out loud, but the reality is it’s a possibility. Because losing 50 percent of funding, it’s hard to come back from that,” she said.

“We see the positive impact that it has on children, and it would just be very disappointing to see them defund the program,” Christina Lawrence, a Warrick County, Indiana, teacher, told WFIE this week.

State Rep. Maureen Bauer (D) told the Tribune that House Democrats hoped to restore Imagination Library funding to the budget this week. But on Thursday, February 20, the Indiana House passed the current version of the budget bill in a party-line vote, sending it to the state’s Republican-led Senate. According to the Indianapolis Star, the bill is very similar to Braun’s proposal.

While neither Braun nor Indiana Republicans have commented on why funding for the program was cut, the battle over the types of books children can access has become a major front in the GOP’s culture war in recent years, and Indiana is one of many states that have enacted laws aimed at banning LGBTQ+ books from schools and libraries. In 2023, the state legislature passed H.B. 1447, which mandates that libraries have a procedure for the public to object to books that are deemed either “obscene” or “harmful to minors.”

In 2022, Parton’s Imagination Library made headlines after Kentucky state Sen. Stephen Meredith (R) questioned whether a state bill establishing a partnership with the program should include language ensuring books provided to children were “subject-appropriate” as well as “age-appropriate.”

“I’ve seen some literature that’s considered preschool that truly I think is inappropriate content for children that age,” Meredith said at the time. “I’ve always had great respect for this program. But as we know, players change over the course of time, and things get shifted. I’d just feel a little bit more secure if we had language of that nature in this.”

Meredith’s comments drew a blistering response from Parton’s younger sister, Stella Parton.

“I’m outraged this morning that anyone, let alone a GOP Sen. Meredith from the great state of Ky. Would question my sister Dolly or even insinuate something sinister about the ‘Imagination Library’ program for children,” Parton wrote in a 2022 X post. “My big sister stays out of politics but this is an outrage!”

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Author: John Russell