Dan Reynolds Opens Up About Being an Ally to the LGBTQ Community

Dan Reynolds is on the cover of the Gay Times January 2019 issue, out now.

Here’s what the 31-year-old Imagine Dragons star had to say…

On being raised as a Mormon: “I was raised in Mormonism, where you are taught that being gay is a sin, so as a 12 year old I was faced with that conflict of, ‘Well, I have a friend who’s gay and is maybe the best person I know, this doesn’t make sense’. That was the first time I questioned ‘God’s will’ and didn’t feel like God was aligning with what my heart was telling me, which was that my friend’s love was just as valid as mine.”

On being an ally to the LGBTQ community: “I believe there are super religious people who are really good people and they want to be loving, they just don’t know how to align that with what they’ve been taught their whole lives. If they were to sit down and hear an LGBTQ child tell their story, and really listen with compassion, then I know they’d be moved enough to change the way they view LGBTQ people.”

On progression within the Mormon community: “People are either leaving religion because they don’t want to be part of something so intolerant, or they’re staying but feeling really conflicted. So really, the pressure is on our leaders of orthodox faiths. If they’re ‘talking with God’ and receiving modern-day revelations, I certainly hope they’re praying every day about this, because any God that is loving and kind like they say – I think it’s obvious that this God would believe in equality.”

For more from Dan, visit GayTimes.co.uk.