Article: Learn to Love Loud

Back in August, a festival at the UCCU Center in Orem went on. This festival was only held in Utah and featured musicians and guest speakers talking about the struggles LGBTQ+ youth have. The main hosts of the festival was Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds and Neon Trees’ Tyler Glenn, who both addressed how suicide is more likely to occur within the LGBTQ+ community, especially if they don’t have anyone who supports them, but here’s the twist, politics were left out and no fingers were being pointed at anyone!(GASP) Guess what, we can address issues peacefully without getting political too.

First thing’s first. The message they spread to Utah, was to learn how to love, how to let someone who may be depressed/suicidal know that you are there to support them, and how to accept someone for who they are despite their sexual preference. Now, what does “acceptance” mean to some of our very own students? For Jaxen Pugh acceptance means “everything is accepted or someone accepts you.” Kaia Lowe feels that acceptance is “being okay with someone even if you don’t agree with them”. To Addison Arevalo, acceptance is leaving nobody behind or out and not pointing out their differences. When it comes to this, Iayla Searle defines it as nobody should really care if you’re gay or straight because “we’re all human”. It’s about time somebody said that. But to be honest, the most heartwarming student’s definition of “acceptance” belongs to Ricky Balderama.

“I think they’ll feel safer if we learn to accept”,he stated. He’s absolutely right. The more accepting you are of someone despite their sexuality or gender identity, the safer they feel in this world.

Second thing, every year, SJHS has an assembly talking about preventing teen suicide. It’s nice to know that they address racism as a form of bullying, but you never hear word about sexism, or homophobia, like gender stereotypes, contributing to teen suicide. Those same students from before all feel that this topic should be addressed. Iayla thinks that addressing this will make us a more welcoming school. “More knowledge means more acceptance”(Iayla Searle). Kaia is all for this being addressed times 3. Addison knows that a lot of teens struggle with their sexuality, it’s getting better, but even with our changing world, it’s a serious topic.

Last but not least, what exactly does it mean to Love Loud? Well, to Jaxen, it means you “love whoever you want and you feel whatever you want to feel.” “World acceptance”, said Jennifer Enriquez. Gold star to her. For Kaia, Loving Loud means “to be okay with who you are and to accept other people”. Addison says “not to make someone feel bad. Just let them know you’re there for them.” She’s right, just be there to support your friends or family for who they are. To sum things up, it doesn’t matter what your sexuality is, what you identify as, or if you’re a person of color, you should always be there to support someone you care about, and just don’t be a jerk gosh diddly darn! Your personality is all that matters, nothing else. If it’s one thing we all have in common, it’s the fact that we all bleed the same color. Overall, to you, what does it mean to LoveLoud?