Imagine Dragons lead vocalist Dan Reynolds shared his foundation and its festival’s motivation during a recent conversation with NBC News. Reynolds didn’t forget to draw attention to the challenges that the LGBTQ+ community has been going through, especially the fragile young generation.
Dan Reynolds is one of the most supportive people regarding the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for equal rights. He didn’t only stand beside them with his statements, but he also took action when he founded the LoveLoud Foundation in 2017. The organization aims to bring families and communities together and give hope to young community members by highlighting that they aren’t alone.
In addition, the foundation has raised a lot of money thanks to donations and their annual LoveLoud Festival. The organization process was shown in the documentary film entitled ‘Believer,’ released on January 20, 2018, at Sundance Film Festival. This year’s LoveLoud Festival will take place on May 14 in Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah, and the lineup consists of Reynolds, Willow, Anitta, and Neon Trees with many more artists.
During a recent interview, the Imagine Dragons frontman stated that he knows prejudices and false principles cause the LGBTQ+ youth problems with their families and society. With his foundation and festival, Reynolds aims to raise awareness for this issue by spreading the message that these young people need nothing but understanding and acceptance.
Reynolds shared his ideas, saying:
“These are the families that their kids are coming out and not being accepted, and they’re being told all kinds of these dangerous things. Frankly, these parents think they’re giving their kids the right things, but they don’t have the tools and the education to know how much it harms your child when you’re indoctrinating them with these false principles. So that’s what we’re trying to do. There’s a lot that goes into it, and it’s pretty nuanced, but hopefully, we’re getting better at it every year.
The greatest offense is standing by and being like, ‘It doesn’t affect me. It doesn’t matter. It does make a difference.’ I’m a firm believer that all puzzle pieces need to be put into the puzzle, and one of those pieces is the heterosexual, white man who is an enemy to all and has been for a long time. The only way that’s going to change is accepting and understanding that we need to learn.”
The Imagine Dragons singer also mentioned an important point by saying that he couldn’t stand the idea that heterosexuals shouldn’t interfere in this situation because it doesn’t affect them. He emphasized that every individual should be a part of it, and the change will start as soon as people realize that they should learn to accept.
