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Imagine Dragons Singer Dan Reynolds Wants to Change Mormon-LGBTQ Relations

Imagine Dragons Singer Dan Reynolds Want To Change Mormon-LGBTQ Relations
KATE ELIZABETH is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Dan Reynolds’ New Film Believer Will Be Exploring The Topic

Dan Reynolds, the frontman of Imagine Dragons, is all set to release his new film Believer. The purpose of this film, as he told Ellen DeGeneres, is to bridge the gap which exists between the LGBTQ community and the Mormon faith. The fight, he reminded everyone in the audience, is a battle for equality and full acceptance.

Imagine Dragons Singer Dan Reynolds Wants to Change Mormon-LGBTQ Relations[/tweetthis]

For Reynolds, the process of realization came slowly. His family was Mormon and he was taught early in his childhood that LGBTQ people were not God’s chosen ones. He admitted he always felt something was wrong with his faith but was not sufficiently confident to vocalize it. In his interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the 30-year-old recalled how an experience in college assisted him to identify with what LGBTQ youth struggle with on an everyday basis. Believer explores the singer’s efforts to reconcile the passion he harbors towards LGBTQ causes with his Mormon upbringing.

Reynolds, during his interview with DeGeneres, said he developed an interest in advocating the LGBTQ cause after Brigham Young University expelled him. University authorities caught him and his girlfriend of 4 years having consensual sex. He told DeGeneres the event was devastating for him at that time. He felt a lot of guilt and shame, which he should not have. It assisted him in empathizing with his gay friends. Being Mormon, they could not come out for fear of offending their parents and their church. Worst of all, the subject was such a taboo that it was not even discussed among friends.

Reynolds found his calling when his therapist told him he has to occasionally offend others. Even though he continues to identify as Mormon, he is now fully committed to making a change in the community. The singer explained his stance in the letter he sent to the LGBTQ community for Billboard’s continuing Pride Month Project. He explained his stay within Mormonism by saying one can only change a religion or community from within it. He pointed out that religious leaders speak about the amount of love for their LGBTQ youth but are found to be totally against changing their lethal religious doctrine.

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