Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds. | Photo: AT&T / YouTube
Frontman of Imagine Dragons, Dan Reynolds, just gave a passionate speech for LGBTI youth.
Imagine Dragons were the headlining act for the Love Loud Festival last night (28 July) at the Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Launching last year, the festival aims to directly support LGBTI youth by donating proceeds to LGBTI charities.
Halfway through Imagine Dragons’ set, Reynolds (who identifies as straight) stopped and addressed the crowd for a moment.
Photo: AT&T / YouTube
He said: ‘I was just informed that we have officially raised our goal tonight of over $1million (€858,000 £763,000).
‘You did this by coming tonight from all walks of life [and] all sides,’ he said.
He explains the money goes straight to LGBTI charities like the Trevor Project, the Tegan and Sara Foundation and Encircle.
Dan Reynolds: ‘Your love is valid’
Dan Reynolds then says at the end of the set: ‘We’ve got one last song for you – we love you.
‘To our LGBTQ youth, stay with us every day. We need you, we love you [and] we accept you. Your love is valid, it’s pure, it’s true [and] it’s beautiful.
‘We stand with you – Love Loud will be here.
‘Peace, love, equality – we’ll see you again soon,’ he said.
celebrate our diversity. embrace our LGBTQ youth. to “accept” does not simply mean to “love” – it means you give true validity and fully embrace and support diverse sexual orientations and do not see ones sexuality as “incorrect” or “sinful”. love is an empty word otherwise. pic.twitter.com/ACaIZyNrX0
— Dan Reynolds (@DanReynolds) 28 March 2018
Powered by AT&T, the festival also featured appearances from Apple CEO Tim Cook, Zedd, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, Grace VanderWaal, Neon Trees’ Tyler Glenn, Cameron Esposito, Vagabon and A.W.
You can watch the whole Imagine Dragons set (2:06:15-end) or the speech for LGBTI equality (3:51:50) below.
The video also features a speech by Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as performances by Zedd and Grace Vanderwaal.
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