LoveLoud amplified a beautiful message to LGBT young people: You are loved.
The music festival, launched by Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons in 2017, returned to Utah Saturday for a star-filled concert in Salt Lake City. Performers including Tyler Glenn, Jussie Smollett, Mary Lambert, Vincint, Mike Shinoda, Zedd, and Wrabel joined Reynolds onstage in order to raise awareness of the issues that impact queer youth. Hosted by Cameron Esposito, the event also drew out public figures like Carmen Carrera, Gus Kenworthy, Shangela, and Tim Cook in support of the cause.
Reynolds, an ally who was raised Mormon, launched LoveLoud in response to the deadly impact of anti-LGBT stances taken by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The youth suicide rate in Utah, where the Mormon Church is based, quadrupled between 2007 and 2015. Nationally, LGBT youth are disproportionately impacted by this crisis, as they are 8.5 times likelier to attempt to take their life than straight peers, according to the Utah Department of Health. Reynolds's journey in becoming an ally and starting the music festival is chronicled in the documentary Believer.
In addition to awareness, the festival raised over $1 million for LGBT groups like the Trevor Project, Encircle, and the Tegan and Sara Foundation. Cook, the out CEO of Apple, also sent out his own message to LGBT people to the crowd of over 30,000 at Rice-Eccles Stadium: "You are a gift to the world, a unique and special gift just the way you are. Your life matters. To you I say, find your truth, speak your truth, live your truth."
The event sold out despite a lack of endorsement from the Mormon Church, which gave its approval to LoveLoud last year but not this year. Over 5 million people have streamed the festival online on the Twitter account of AT&T, which sponsored the event.
Take a look at some of the visual highlights of LoveLoud 2018.
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