Film advocates for LGBT Mormons
Imagine Dragons frontman wants to end ‘shaming’ of youth
PARK CITY, Utah — The Mormon frontman of the rock band Imagine Dragons hopes the Sundance Film Festival documentary that follows his journey to becoming an advocate for LGBT Mormon youth triggers real change by his church’s leaders and puts an end to what he calls “shaming” of gay and lesbian kids in the faith.
Singer Dan Reynolds said he and director Don Argott made the film Believer to put a “face to the faceless and a voice to the voiceless.” His goal is to show leaders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that opposition to same-sex relationships is damaging the self-worth of gay, lesbian and transgender kids.
“These kids are being told their most innate sense of being is sinful,” said Reynolds, a Mormon from Las Vegas. “Shaming is so destructive.”
The film received a standing ovation at its premiere Sunday in Park City. It’s set to air on HBO in the summer.
The Utah-based Mormon faith of 16 million members worldwide is holding firm to doctrinal opposition of gay marriage and homosexual activity while trying to foster an empathetic stance toward LGBT people and end bullying.
Last year, church leaders updated a website created in 2012 to let members know that attraction to people of the same sex is not a sin or a measure of their faithfulness and may never go away. But the church reminded members that being in an intimate same-sex relationship is a sin because it violates fundamental doctrinal beliefs that will not change.
In the film, Argott follows Reynolds and former Mormon Tyler Glenn, a gay lead singer of Neon Trees, as they plan the LoveLoud Festival, a concert last summer in Utah headlined by Imagine Dragons that raised funds for organizations supporting at-risk LGBT youth.
The Mormon church supported the festival, praising organizers for bringing “people together to address teen safety and to express respect and love for all of God’s children.”