Imagine Dragons’ lead singer stars in documentary shedding light on LGBT Mormons
Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons is outspoken about LGBT rights (Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for IMDb)
The lead singer of Imagine Dragons has starred in a Mormon LGBT film to end the persecution of gay people in the religion.
Dan Reynolds, who is a Mormon himself, features in the Sundance Festival documentary Believer, which details his journey as an LGBT youth advocate for Mormons.
Intending to put a “face to the faceless and a voice to the voiceless,” Reynolds hopes that the film will persuade leaders of the religion to recognising their “shaming” approach towards LGBT Mormons.
“These kids are being told their most innate sense of being is sinful,” said Reynolds to Washington Post.
“Shaming is so destructive.”
The film, which will show on HBO in the summer, received a standing ovation at its Sunday premiere at the festival.
Reynolds hopes that the film will prove to leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to say that “there’s a place” for LGBT youth isn’t enough.
“This isn’t just pointing a finger at Mormonism, it’s pointing a finger at all of us,” Reynolds said.
“It’s pointing a finger at myself, who has been a silent nobody for years.”
The religion staunchly opposes gay marriage and homosexual activity, in spite of the fact that it advocates an empathetic stance toward LGBT people and end bullying.
“The Church distinguishes between same-sex attraction and homosexual behavior,” says the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ homepage says.
“People who experience same-sex attraction or identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual can make and keep covenants with God and fully and worthily participate in the Church. Identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual or experiencing same-sex attraction is not a sin and does not prohibit one from participating in the Church, holding callings, or attending the temple.
Sexual purity is an essential part of God’s plan for our happiness. Sexual relations are reserved for a man and woman who are married and promise complete loyalty to each other. Sexual relations between a man and woman who are not married, or between people of the same sex, violate one of our Father in Heaven’s most important laws and get in the way of our eternal progress.”
There are 16 million Mormons worldwide.
