{"id":1523,"date":"2019-08-07T02:29:07","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T02:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=1523"},"modified":"2019-08-09T15:48:29","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T15:48:29","slug":"justin-utleys-survivors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=1523","title":{"rendered":"Justin Utley\u2019s \u201cSurvivors\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Justin Utley\u2019s \u201cSurvivors\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overcoming the Trauma of Conversion Therapy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversion Therapy: the disproven\npseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual\norientation using psychological and spiritual\ninterventions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OUTMusic\nAward winning singer\/songwriter Justin Utley releases<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSurvivors\u201d Recorded in Salt Lake City, \u201cSurvivors\u201d is an anthemic pop track, written by Swedish songwriting duo Linda & Ylva, reworked and expanded upon by Utley to include his rallying cry against conversion therapy. The stirring music video to \u201cSurvivors\u201d features a collaboration with the University of Utah Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestral version will be featured on the forthcoming album. \u201cSurvivors\u201d is the debut single from Justin Utley\u2019s highly anticipated third studio album, Scars. The album is expected to be one of the most heartfelt, brutally honest, thought provoking and vulnerable collection of songs he has ever produced. It also introduces an exciting new sound for Justin Utley: it is a bold move into up-tempo, anthemic and gritty pop. \u201cAt this point in my musical journey, the gloves are off,\u201d Utley declares. \u201cThere was a time for playing it safe, but I\u2019ve come to a space where I am no longer satisfied with the status quo, musically and personally. I don\u2019t want to spend time placating and catering to the willful ignorance and self-induced biases of people, especially to those who have the power to spark change and shape a better life for LGBTQ youth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSurvivors\nis about facing and overcoming insurmountable odds and learning to thrive in\nthe face of adversity,\u201d explains Justin Utley from his Salt Lake City home.\n\u201cIt\u2019s about survivors of abuse in all forms and how it takes a great deal of\neffort to move forward in life while carrying the heavy burden of trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin Utley\nknows about survival first-hand. He grew up in a devout Mormon home, believing\nhis same gender attraction was an addiction, disorder, and learned behavior. He\nwas required to undergo two years of faith-based conversion therapy, even\ntaking medications prescribed to help suppress the feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The therapy\nwasn\u2019t successful and Justin began dating men. However, his newfound joy of\nfreedom quickly turned to grief when the man he dated died from a suicidal drug\noverdose. Justin\u2019s bishop asserted the death was a sign of God\u2019s displeasure.\nSoon after, Justin\u2019s employer discovered he was gay through monitoring his\ncompany email. At the time, Utah had no protections in housing or employment\nand so it was legal for them to terminate him, and they did. \u201cMy entire\nexistence seemed to be broken and unfixable, and I got to a point where I\nthought not existing would be a better option. Working through that dark period\nof my life was probably one of the most difficult things I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin Utley\u2019s experience with discrimination, religious bullying, his own internal homophobia, and suicide are all depicted in the music video for \u201cSurvivors.\u201d It features a little girl (played by Justin Utley\u2019s niece!), confronting a fight or flight moment, who learns that she, has the power to survive, thrive, and learn to fly. It perfectly echoes Utley\u2019s life mantra: even if you can\u2019t see a silver lining, you can make one. Born and raised in Utah, Justin Utley\u2019s music career took off when he was selected to perform at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. After breaking ties with his Mormon roots and moving to New York City, Justin became a sought-after talent, spending much of his career touring as a performer at Pride Festivals worldwide where he has shared the stage with top international acts including Dan Reynolds, Icona Pop, Tegan & Sara, and Margaret Cho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June\n2010, Utley released \u201cStand for Something,\u201d a single written to inspire and\nmotivate action towards securing LGBT marriage equality in the United States. The\nLGBT Academy of Recording Arts nominated the single for 4 OutMusic Awards,\nincluding Best Songwriter and Artist of the Year. It won Best Country\/Folk Song\nof the Year. Justin has served as a guest contributor on CNN\u2019s \u2018Faces of Faith\u2019\nSunday news segment, NPR, SiriusXM\u2019s OutQ and MSNBC. He is a two-time recipient\nof the FBI\u2019s \u201cInspiring Citizen of the Year\u201d award, and \u201cArtist of the Year\u201d by\nSiriusXM\u2019s OutQ Radio. He regularly provides insight on issues of faith and the\nLGBT community at colleges and universities throughout the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cSurvivors\u201d is available on Apple Music,\nSpotify and all digital platforms. Last month, all proceeds from \u201cSurvivors\u201d were\ndonated to the Born Perfect Campaign, a survivor-led movement working to end\nconversion therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Justin\nUtley\u2019s website @ Justinutley.com. Follow him on Instagram @ justinutley and\nFacebook @ justinutleymusic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin Utley\u2019s \u201cSurvivors\u201d Overcoming the Trauma of Conversion Therapy Conversion Therapy: the disproven pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation using psychological and spiritual interventions. OUTMusic Award winning singer\/songwriter Justin Utley releases \u201cSurvivors\u201d Recorded in Salt Lake City, \u201cSurvivors\u201d is an anthemic pop track, written by Swedish songwriting duo Linda & Ylva, reworked and expanded upon by Utley to include his rallying cry against conversion therapy. The stirring music video to \u201cSurvivors\u201d features a collaboration with the University of Utah Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestral version will be featured on the forthcoming album. \u201cSurvivors\u201d is the debut single from Justin Utley\u2019s highly anticipated third studio album, Scars. The album is expected to be one of the most heartfelt, brutally honest, thought provoking and vulnerable collection of songs he has ever produced. It also introduces an exciting new sound for Justin Utley: it is a bold move into up-tempo, anthemic and gritty pop. \u201cAt this point in my musical journey, the gloves are off,\u201d Utley declares. \u201cThere was a time for playing it safe, but I\u2019ve come to a space where I am no longer satisfied with the status quo, musically and personally. I don\u2019t want to spend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2169,2168,2164,2163,2167,2165,2166],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1523"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1526,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions\/1526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}