One thing I’d like to add to Dolly’s resume from the article: her Imagination Library is a children’s literacy program that gives one free book per month to kids 5 & under whose parents register with the program. She’s given away over 40 million books and counting.

Truly a national treasure on so many levels.

tell them your making a collection of odd shirts and would love to make a trade for the collection.

One shirt, three people all three get dolly shirts. It would probably make their day.

Of course they could take the offensive one home as well but it might be more obvious what you are doing.

Make everyone happy.

Name the odd shirt house AFA hic ups.

However, I would be interested in knowing the last time the “Clothing with offensive and/or pictures will not be permitted inside the park” was enforced in a similar manner.

I wonder what training Dollywood staff receive about how to determine if something is offensive.

Would an explicitly religious slogan, say one urging people to believe in Jesus, be banned? Would an explicitly political T-shirt, say one supportive of Pres. Obama, be banned? These slogans might offend some people or cause a disruption, which this policy is meant to minimize.

I get the idea that “Sh*t Happens” should be prohibited (even with the asterisk), but “gay” is not a four-letter word.

That said, Dollywood is private property and certainly has considerable discretion over what it will and will not allow.

All they need to do is to anticipate reactions and make sure they phrase things to mean what they intend, and not bear the freight of others’ past prejudices by mistake.

the words “despite” and “because” were italicized to indicate that it the welcome does not come as some sort of exception to the rule but rather because Dolly’s idea of family already includes them.

However, as this may be confusing, I’ve changed the wording.

“But there in the middle is a seemingly innocuous sentence that sets an entire industry of anti-gay activism on its ear. Lesbian couples are not welcome despite the family image, but because Dollywood is a “family park”. This is a revolutionary statement for Bible Belt mentality.”