With June in full swing, Pride season has landed here at Audacy. All month long we will be waving the flag for our friends, family members, and colleagues while celebrating the diversity, creativity, and ingenuity of the LGBTQIA+ community.
In partnership with Channel Q and Stella Rosa Wines, we’ll be hosting Celebrations in Pride and highlighting LGBTQ+ artists and allies every through the month, with exclusive Pride party performances and interviews at Audacy.com/pride.
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Tyler Glenn from Neon Trees joined Audacy’s Ally Johnson and Bryce Segall to share his unique story. Before he spoke about his experiences since coming out, Glenn gave us an update on how he was doing since he suffered a stroke a few months ago. “I woke up with a retinal stroke in my eye and had to go admitted and get checked out. Luckily, I’m good,” Glenn said.
“It’s one of those weird flicks where some particle in my body went to my eye instead of my brain so I’m actually really lucky that it didn’t cause further damage. It’s scary, I’m only 37 so it’s kind of bizarre.”
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Glenn had a unique upbringing. He grew up as a member of the Mormon Church, which he said shaped “my whole worldview.”
The church’s views on same-sex relationships contributed to Glenn not coming out until recently. “I didn’t come out as gay until I was 30, which was in 2014,” he says. “I still kind of held on to this idea that maybe I could do both.”
Glenn quickly realized that he couldn’t do both. “What I’ve really discovered in the years since leaving the church and dealing with some of the anger I’ve had towards the whole thing,” Glenn says, “I’ve come out realizing there are really amazing people within the organization.”
“I think my, sort of, disdain was never aimed towards any one member of the community of the LDS Church, but it was more the system that kept barring people to flourish in their own divine nature.”
Glenn’s parents were lifelong members of the church, which made him unsure how they would react when he told them that he was gay. When Glenn recalled the experience, he began to tear up. “My family has made incredible strides,” he said.
“My parents left the faith a few years ago and they’re deep in their 60’s. It’s not lost on me that they chose their son instead of this faith.”
“Everyone is meeting me where I’m at and really supporting who I am,” he added. “Regardless of religious or political views, I’ve been able to prick a few hearts and make people realize I’m the same guy, and probably even better for it for coming out and living my truth.”
Glenn said he’s “so grateful that there are people that are on this ride with me that I love that support me. It makes all the difference.”
Before he came out, Glenn always used music as a space and outlet to be authentically himself. “Music’s always been the place where I could kind of hide in plain view,” he said. “I was able to be completely myself on stage.”
When he came out, Glenn said “it wasn’t a shock to some people” and it had already been known in the band. Still, it was a tremendous weight off his shoulders. “It was such a personal merging of all these kinds of double lives I felt like I was living after a while. It’s never lost on me that the one constant has been music.”
“Whenever I perform ever since [coming out], I’ve always felt not afraid.”
WATCH MORE: Why is it Important to support the LGBTQ community?
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